SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Japan's production of extruded aluminum mill products fell to 663,863 metric tons in 2009, down 24% from 2008, according to preliminary data the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry issued Friday.
For December, production of extruded aluminum was down 4% compared with November but up 1% versus December 2008, at 60,630 tons.
Inventories of extruded products were unchanged on month, but rose 14% on year to 12,281 tons, while shipments were down 4% on month and up 17% on year at 30,914 tons.
Total shipments of extruded products in 2009 fell 28% to 312,357 tons according to METI.
For flat-rolled products, total production in 2009 was down 21% at 1,062,681 tons.
December production of flat-rolled products was down 3% on month and up 18% on year at 98,755 tons.
Inventories of flat-rolled products rose 7% on month in December but were down 13% on year at 70,103 tons while shipments fell 6% on month but were up 13% on year at 91,056 tons.
2009 total shipments of flat-rolled products were down 20% at 1,037,795 tons.
At 0550 GMT, three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange was trading unchanged from Thursday's kerb at $2,108/ton.
-By James Campbell, Dow Jones Newswires, +656415-4082; james.campbell@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 29, 2010 01:09 ET (06:09 GMT)
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