N. American aluminum shipments increase in August

Demand for North American semi-fabricated aluminum mill products rose 7.9 percent in August from July, and jumped 10.9 percent from August 2009, aluminum industry data showed on Tuesday.

Shipments increased to an estimated 1,656.2 million lbs from 1,535.0 million lbs in July, and were sharply higher than the 1,493.8 million lbs shipped in August 2009, the Aluminum Association said in its latest Aluminum Situation report.

Demand for North American aluminum is measured as shipments from U.S. and Canadian producers, plus imports.

Year-to-date, aluminum shipments surged 15.4 percent to 12,300.4 million lbs from 10,663.4 million lbs for the first eight months of 2009.

Demand for semi-fabricated, or mill, products rose by 1.0 percent in August to 1,065.8 million lbs from 1,055.2 million lbs in July, and was up 5.8 percent from August 2009, when 1,007.1 million lbs were shipped, the report said.

In its breakdown of U.S. and Canadian mill products, the association said, demand for aluminum sheet and plate slipped 0.1 percent to 654.6 million lbs in August from 655.3 million lbs in July, and grew by 3.4 percent from 633.3 million lbs shipped in August 2009.

Shipments of extruded products went up by 4.9 percent to 232.4 million lbs in August from 221.6 million lbs in July, and gained 13.1 percent from 205.6 million lbs in August 2009.

August shipments of aluminum ingot for castings and other uses soared 23.0 percent to 590.3 million lbs in August from July's 479.7 million lbs shipped. Ingot shipments jumped 21.3 percent to over 486.6 million lbs in August 2009, the aluminum report said.

The industry group also said U.S. and Canadian producer inventories slipped 2.6 percent in August to 2,202.1 million lbs from 2,262.0 million lbs in July, but rose 5.9 percent from 2,079.5 million lbs in Augbust 2009.