Japanese aluminium parts manufacturer UACJ partially halted domestic production of automotive-related aluminium products, on stagnant demand from the sector due to the impact of COVID-19.
Toyota announced 122,000 units cut in vehicle production for June, on Monday, due to a global drop in demand. The automaker’s global sales dropped by 22.6pc in March. Other Japanese automakers like Nissan, have discontinued struggling lower-cost brands to save costs, after its global production fell by 41pc in March, from a year ago.
UACJ’s sales of rolled aluminium products rose by 5pc to 1.15mn mt in FY2020 (April-March) driven by demand from the beverage industry, especially from North America, up by 5.4pc. Sales to IT industry rose by 13.3pc. UAJC’s export sales rose by 13.4pc to 669,000mt, however, domestic sales dropped by 4pc to 483,000mt in FY2020 from the previous year.
The Japanese aluminium producer did not provide output or sales guidance for FY2021 due to uncertainties prevailing on account of the pandemic.