Japan’s primary aluminium imports rise in 2024

Market: Metals
31/01/25

Japan's primary aluminium imports increased by 1.9pc on the year to 1.05mn t in 2024, as higher shipments from India, South Africa and the UAE cancelled out the drop in Russian deliveries.

Australia remained the largest supplier of primary aluminium to Japan in 2024. It sent close to 300,000t of primary aluminium to Japan and accounted for over 28pc of Japan's imports. Brazil — which is the second-largest supplier and accounted for around 16pc of Japanese imports — sent 170,000t to Japan in 2024.

They were followed by the UAE and India, which made up 10.2pc and 9.8pc respectively of total Japanese imports. Shipments from the UAE rose by 14pc on the year to 107,000t and deliveries from India increased by 25pc to 103,000t. The rises in UAE and India shipments largely offset the drop in Russian shipments, which fell by almost 70pc to just 26,000t in 2024. Japan banned imports of some Russian-origin aluminium products in April 2023.

Domestic demand for aluminium products in Japan remained subdued because of weaker demand from the building, construction and automotive sectors. Consumption of aluminium from the building and construction sector fell by 7.7pc to below 350,000t in January-November 2024, while demand from the automotive industry dropped by 4.1pc to 1.45mn t, according to the Japan Aluminium Association. Total demand for aluminium between January-November 2024 was 3.35mn t, down by 3.3pc on the year.

Japan's secondary aluminium output totalled 637,000t in January-November, down by 4.9pc on the year from 670,000t in the same period in 2023, which consequently drove Japan's aluminium scrap imports lower by 5.3pc to 85,000t. The lower domestic secondary output may have helped boost the country's primary product imports, even though local demand has weakened.

Japan's aluminium imports (t)
	Dec-24	24-Nov	± %	Jan-Dec 24	Jan-Dec 23	± %

Australia	32,436.7	27,953.7	16.04%	296,135.1	288,829.3	2.53%
Russia	285.2	3,052.1	-90.65%	25,680.6	79,866.7	-67.85%
UAE	4,417.0	9,529.6	-53.65%	107,490.3	93,989.8	14.36%
Brazil	27,146.5	712.9	3707.84%	170,373.7	161,012.8	5.81%
Saudi Arabia	3,787.7	7,558.1	-49.89%	42,071.8	39,918.5	5.39%
New Zealand	7,609.4	4,719.4	61.24%	100,875.8	114,003.5	-11.52%
India	6,491.6	2,943.1	120.57%	103,187.6	82,496.3	25.08%
Malaysia	4,202.1	3,206.1	31.07%	41,845.8	44,849.5	-6.70%
Bahrain	4,005.5	2,517.4	59.11%	22,167.4	33,019.4	-32.87%
South Africa	8,984.6	4,669.4	92.41%	76,967.8	66,538.5	15.67%
Others	9,919.2	4,784.1	107.34%	65,077.0	27,725.8	134.72%
Total	109,285.5	71,645.7	52.54%	1,051,872.9	1,032,250.1	1.90%
Source: Ministry of Finance

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