Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports at the end of February fell 5.7 percent from a month earlier to 208,100 tonnes, reflecting low import volumes, trading house Marubeni Corp said on Thursday.Marubeni collects data from the key ports of Yokohama,Nagoya and Osaka.
"Import volumes were small and there were delays in shipmentn arrivals, so stocks naturally declined," a Marubeni official said.
"The drop in stocks was due more to smaller inflows than to sluggish outflows due to falling demand," he said, adding that January-March typically was a period when trading firms adjust import volumes.
Japan, which must buy nearly all the metal it needs,annually imports about 2 million tonnes of primary aluminium,widely used in products ranging from computers, planes and electronics to the food sector.
Industry officials have said that stock levels around 10 percent of total imports represented a healthy level, and the Marubeni official said current stocks were deemed appropriate.
The latest stocks were 3.7 percent higher than a year ago. Japanese shipments of aluminium products rose 4.2 percent in January from a year earlier, gaining for a 14th straight month on strong exports, but growth slowed as domestic demand remains sluggish and the outlook is unclear.
Some deals for term premiums for primary aluminium shipments to Japan in the April-June quarter were agreed at $112-$113 per tonne, flat from the current quarter, a source said on Friday.
Following are details of Japanese aluminium stocks,including month-on-month and year-on-year comparisons (in tonnes):
Yokohama Nagoya Osaka Total
Feb 28 102,300 91,800 14,000 208,100
Jan 31 110,900 97,800 12,000 220,700
Dec 31 108,300 101,300 14,000 223,600
Nov 30 100,900 96,100 13,000 210,000
End-Feb 2010 98,700 88,500 13,500 200,700
豫公网安备41010502003434号