According to Christian Wellner, MD of Germany’s Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie (GDA) – a federation of the aluminium producing and processing industry in Germany – the first half of 2010 has shown a 30.3% increase in the output of rolled and extruded products in the country compared with the same period 2009.
Output reached 1.232Mt for H1 2010 and demand from both within Germany and outside is improving.
During 2009, production of these products fell 16.3% to 2.0187Mt compared to 2.4122Mt in 2008. Recovery set in from September 2009 and is expected to continue to improve in 2H 2010.
The major share of production is from rolling mills which increased output in 1H 2010 by 28.6% to 946.5kt.
Percentage wise, extruders increased output even more by 36.3% to 283.8kt but this follows greater falls in 2009 when output of extruded tube fell 40.5%, rod and bar by 27.1% and extruded profiles by 22.2%.
The most important markets are construction, transport and electrical and mechanical engineering all of which are showing positive signs of recovery.
In total, rolled and extruded products employ some 16000 people in Germany at 47 plants.