ASUKA ALUMINIUM NEWSNO. 637

JULY 2014

Import of aluminum and silicon metal in FY2013
The Ministry of Finance recently revealed the customs clearance report of aluminum ingot, aluminum alloy ingot, aluminum and aluminum alloy scrap and silicon
metal in fiscal 2013, started in in April 2013 and ended in March 2014.
According to this report, the comparison with the previous period is as follows.
primary aluminum ingot
94.64%
aluminum alloy ingot 105.29%
aluminum and alloy scrap 124.88%
silicon metal
100.90%Throughout this fiscal year, the demand of aluminum alloy was almost normal and its
market was calm. However the import of aluminum and aluminum alloy scrap increased sharply, which was thought that it was a reaction of excessive decrease in past
successive two years.
Looking at the export countries, the ranking was not almost change. It shows theinternational aluminum market was pretty tranquil through a year. The market infiscal 2014 is foreseen to be calm, and the import quantity of each item seems to be unchangeable.
notes A. primary aluminum ingot(1) Australia (2) Brazil (3) Russia (4) New Zealand (5) South Africa(6) Indonesia (7) U.A.E. (8) Saudi Arabia (9) Argentine (10) Canada(11) others (12) total
B. aluminum alloy ingot(1) China (2) Russia (3) U.A.E. (4)Australia (5) Qatar (6) Nigeria(7) New Zealand (8) Canada (9) Taiwan (10) Ukraine (11) others(12) total
C. aluminum and aluminum scrap(1) U.S.A. (2) U.K. (3) Israel (4) Malaysia (5) Hong Kong (6)Singapore (7) Australia (8) Taiwan (9) Thailand (10) Indonesia(11) others (12) total
D. silicon metal(1) China (2) Norway (3) Brazil (4) South Africa (5) Thailand (6)France (7) Australia (8) Taiwan (9) Germany (10) Sweden (11)others (12) total
Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand tour
Masanao Okada, Director
I had an opportunity to visit Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand in attendance
upon President Takashi Amano from May 30 until June 4. It was after long time tovisit
overseas business connections. Leaving Japan the too strict check of body and baggage
surprised us very much.
Hong Kong
We were met by Mr. Takuya Sato, Okaya (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., at the airport. The
temperature was pretty high just like summer, and I was struck by the crammedpeople all who were very vital.
We had dinner with Mr. Jack Brown, Sims Metal Management Asia, who visitedAsuka sometimes, and we exchanged our business views friendly. He said that
Australian materials had been exported to Japan mainly, but today buyers are India,
Korea or China. Australian industry turned down and moreover the mining industry
lost a booming appeal. Sims Metal has been one of our most friendly business partners,and our dinner time was very informative.
The huge volume of various commodities at airport stalls absolutely amazed me.
Thanking Mr. Sato’s warm attendance, we left Hong Kong. (Photo on page two is aview of Hon Kong from Kowloon.)
SydneyAfter 9 hours and a half flight, we landed at Sydney airport with a very beautiful
morning glow. We were met by Mr. Tokio Shigeishi, Okaya Australia, at the airport,
and moreover we could showered at his home and refreshed ourselves comfortably.
In Australia, automobile, metals and other conventional industries lost theirinternational competitive power, and are withdrawing. The one and only, a babble ofreal estate business is rising vigorously supported by Chinese money.
Enjoying lunch at a Bay side restaurant, I remembered old days when all Asuka
members visited here to study at Sims Refining Plant and to enjoy Sydney Show someyears ago. In Sydney the traffic manner is as well as in Japan, and we don’t hear any
horn at streets.
horoughly ourselves, We sincerely want to thank Mr. Shigeishi for his warmest consideration and hospitality.
We enjoyed dinner, Australian beer, Australian wine and Australian beefsteak,t Wellington
Through plane window, a view of houses and streets in Wellington was extremely
tidy as almost one painting. After 4 hours flight from Sydney, we arrived Wellington,
capital of New Zealand
We visited Macaulay Metals, one of our oldest and the most intimate business
partners. Mr. Bill Macaulay, Past Managing Director, showed us around the yard,
which was extremely vast, 10,000 square meters or more, I supposed. Steel, copper,
aluminum and others were segregated well and piled.
The processing machines operated 24 hours a day with 100 workers. They were allvery cheerful and gave us hello friendly. Commodities were exported to Australia,India, Korea or China. Mr. Macaulay wanted to attend our opening ceremony of newplant, but just before, his health didn’ t allow it. Today he seems very well
Closing
The structure of world economy is changing day by day, and every country is forced
to counter. Besides there are various people having their own history and religion inthe world. I could again understand “Japan is the best state in every element” throughthis tour, and I think we have to work for every country’s development.
At last, I sincerely thank everyone for the kindest hospitality we enjoyed.(Photo on
page three is taken with Mr. Macaulay at the yard.)
Two parties enjoy plant tour
On June 4 Hibino Ind. (photo left P.3), June 7 Nagoya City Environment Dpt.(right).