Japan Aug aluminium shipments in steepest fall in 3 yrs

TOKYO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shipments of aluminium products fell 6.5 percent in August from a year earlier, their biggest drop in more than three years, pulled down by a big fall in the auto sector, with demand from construction staying weak. Shipments of aluminium mill products -- flat-rolled and extrusions -- dropped to 170,856 tonnes in August, the first year-on-year drop since March, the Japan Aluminium Association said on Friday. The fall in shipment in percentage was the deepest since July 2005 when it fell by 8.1 percent. Aluminium product output fell 3.2 percent to 170,289 tonnes in August from a year earlier. "This is a big drop. The outlook is also weak, largely due to slowing automobile sales in North America," an official at the association said. The auto sector's flat-rolled demand, which accounts for about 11 percent of overall demand in that category, fell 6.4 percent from a year earlier to 11,270 tonnes in August -- the first drop in three month. Carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp have cut output plans on slowing demand in the United States and other major markets.