Japan May aluminium shipments up 1.7 pct vs April

TOKYO, June 26 (Reuters) - Japanese shipments of aluminium products in May rose 1.7 percent from the previous month, marking a month-on-month increase for the third month in a row, data issued by an industry association showed on Friday. The pace of the month-on-month rise, however, was much slower than in April, when it climbed by 10.8 percent, or in March when it climbed 10.0 percent, data issued by the Japan Aluminium Association showed. The May figure, at 139,723 tonnes, was down 28.7 percent from a year earlier, indicating that demand for aluminium, used in packaging and construction, was still weak due to the economic crisis. Aluminium industry officials say that although progress has been made to reduce swollen inventories of the metal, fresh buying was mainly aimed at replenishing stocks.