North American aluminum demand crashed by almost 11% in 2008

End use of North American aluminum mill products dropped 10.5% in 2008 to 12.202 billion lb. That is the lowest end-use volume since 12.183 billion lb during the recession year of 2001. In its latest Aluminum Situation report to its members and the media, the Aluminum Association says producers’ shipments of semi-fabricated goods, or mill products, fell 13.4% in December to 968.3 million lb from 1.119 billion lb in December 2007, and lost 6.1% from 1.03 billion lb in November. The association says aluminum mill product exports from the U.S. and Canada, excluding cross-border trade, increased 14.5% to 106.7 million lb in December from 93.2 million in December 2007. For all of 2008, mill product exports grew by 13.6% to 1.262 billion lbs from 1.111 billion lb in 2007. The industry group reports that imports of aluminum mill products rose 8% in December to 133.3 million lb from the year-earlier 123.5 million. For all of 2008, though, imports dropped 12.1% to 1.625 billion lb from 1.849 billion. North American aluminum end use data as calculated by Purchasing.com starts with the Aluminum Association’s shipments to domestic markets plus imports from U.S. and Canadian producers minus exports. That apparent supply then is measured against the Federal Reserve Board’s rate of metalworking activity to calculate real use. This Purchasing.com calculation has been ongoing since 1988. In its breakdown of U.S. and Canadian mill products, the Aluminum Association data shows demand for aluminum sheet and plate lost 7.9% to 632.3 million lb in December from 686.6 million lbs in December 2007. For all of 2008, sheet and plate demand dropped 3.1% to 9.126 million lb from 9.418 million in 2007. Shipments of extruded products slid 26.8% to 175.6 million lb in December from 239.7 million lb a year earlier. They fell 21.2% from 222.9 million lb in November. For the year, demand for extruded products dropped 13.3% to 3.486 billion lb from 4.028 billion in 2007.