Japanese ports stocks up in June but trend is lower

Stocks of primary aluminium at Japan's major ports were 227,700t at the end of June, according to an estimate from local trade house Marubeni.

The figure represents a modest 5.4% rise from stocks of 216,100t at the end of May, which is being attributed to a combination of delayed shipments arriving last month and soft local demand.

Mill product shipments in Japan - a rough proxy for demand - fell year-on-year in the last three reported months (Mar-May 07).

Despite that Japanese port stocks are still low by recent historical standards, particularly relative to 2005, when they were consistently close to or above the 300,000t mark

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