Stocks of primary aluminium at Japan’s major ports rose to 243,200t at the end of July from 223,300t at the end of June, according to an assessment from local trading house Marubeni.
It was the second consecutive month of increase and stocks are now up by 21% from their recent end-March low point of 201,500t.
As is often the case, the timing of vessels carrying imports was a factor in July but the underlying stocks trend is upwards, reflecting soft demand in the Japanese market.
Shipments of mill products—a proxy for domestic demand—have fallen year-on-year in the last four reported months (Mar to June 2007), reflecting weak construction activity and slow can sales (see the Platts item below for more on the latter).
Cif Japan premiums for good-western brand metal last month slipped to $63-65 over LME, compared with the term Q3 premium level of $68-69.
Factoring in the Japanese port figures to the global stocks picture shows that stocks rose by almost 48,000t in July with only producer inventory figures still pending.
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