TOKYO, Feb 10 （Reuters） - Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports fell 1.3 percent from a month ago to 220,700 tonnes at the end of January, reflecting inventory adjustments,trading firm Marubeni Corp （8002.T: Quote） said on Thursday.
Aluminium stocks stood at 223,600 tonnes at the end of December, said Marubeni, which collects data from the key ports of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka. "Generally speaking, movement of shipments is slow, and the dip was within inventory adjustments," a Marubeni official said. "Shipments are not picking up as users generally have stocks at hand and remain cautious on demand outlook," he said.
Japan, which must buy nearly all the metal it needs, annually imports about 2 million tonnes of primary aluminium, widely used in products ranging from computers, planes and electronics to the food sector. Industry officials said stocks around 10 percent of total imports represented a healthy level. "In light of the current sluggish demand from domestic users, there might be a slight excess of stocks," the Marubeni official said.
Japanese shipments of aluminium products rose 7.6 percent in December from a year earlier for the 13th consecutive month of year-on-year gains on solid exports to Asia, a trend that is expected to remain at least through March.
While healthy demand for exports has supported aluminium demand, domestic end-users are less certain on the outlook for the Japanese economy. Data on Thursday showed Japan's core machinery orders rose for the first time in four months in December and firms forecast an increase in orders for the first quarter. But the 1.7 percent rise in December core orders was far smaller than a median forecast of a 5.0 percent increase, suggesting that companies will increase spending only slowly with any economic recovery seen moderate.
Later this month, Japanese buyers will start quarterly negotiations over term premiums for primary aluminium shipments to Japan for the April-June period. Reflecting an uncertain outlook for appetite in 2011, term premiums for the current quarter were set at $112 to $113 per tonne. Following are details of Japanese aluminium stocks, including
month-on-month and year-on-year comparisons （in tonnes）:
| Yokohama | Nagoya | Osaka | Total | ||
| 31-Jan | 110,900 | 97,800 | 12,000 | 220,700 | |
| 31-Dec | 108,300 | 101,300 | 14,000 | 223,600 | |
| 30-Nov | 100,900 | 96,100 | 13,000 | 210,000 | |
| 31-Oct | 112,100 | 100,700 | 13,000 | 225,800 | |
| End-Jan 2010 | 90,900 | 94,300 | 14,000 | 199,200 | |
豫公网安备41010502003434号