The Cabinet Office announced that the preliminary estimate of Japan’s GDP growth rate for the January-March 2024 quarter was a contraction of 2.0% on an annualized basis.  However, the Cabinet Office revised the figure to a decline of 1.8% on June 10.  Personal consumption and investments are lackluster.  In particular, personal consumption which constitutes more than half of the GDP is expected to remain slack for the time being due to the sharp rise in prices.

This volume features aluminum demand in Japan for April, following the trends from January to March.  Overall, the January to March quarter has remained flat, and it appears that escaping this state of affairs will likely take longer.