Japan Mar aluminium stocks -3.9 pct m/m - Marubeni

* Japan aluminium stocks expected to stay steady for now

* Delay in shipments a factor for dip in March stocks

TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports came to 192,800 tonnes at the end of March, down 7,900 tonnes or 3.9 percent from a month earlier, trading house Marubeni Corp  said on Monday.

Marubeni collects data from the key ports of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.

"A delay generally in shipments led to a dip in imports and of stocks in March,” a Marubeni official said.

"With Japanese end-users producing near what is their full capacity for their current demand, it's unlikely that stocks will rise significantly. At the same time, there is no sign stocks will be drawn down sharply either,” he said, adding he expected stocks to move sideways around 200,000 tonnes for now.

Stocks held at the ports marked a 10-year high at the end of February 2009 but then started falling and hit 169,900 tonnes at the end of September 2009, their lowest since Marubeni began keeping records about 14 years ago.

The global economic crisis reduced demand for the metal as automakers and other manufacturers slashed production after late 2008, but demand for aluminium has returned to about 80-85 percent of levels seen before the crisis.

Japanese shipments of aluminium products jumped 45.4 percent in February from a year earlier, and are projected to rise 6.5 percent in the current financial year on the back of a solid recovery in car demand.

Shipments rose to 164,237 tonnes, the third straight month of climbs in year-on-year terms, and were up 9.2 percent from January, although the levels were still about 11 percent below levels in February 2008 before the global economic crisis hit demand.

Following are details of Japanese aluminium stocks, including month-on-month and year-on-year comparisons (in tonnes):

Yokohama      Nagoya    Osaka        Total