Reuters quoted Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro NHL OL as saying that demand for aluminium rolled products is improving in Europe but Q3 sales volumes were about 10% to 15% lower than the same period of 2008.

It said that in the H1, sales of aluminium rolled products had been down around 25% YoY in Europe meaning the industry has partly recovered in the Q3 but not to last year's level.

Mr Oliver Bell head of rolled products at Norsk Hydro said that "There is an improvement coming from extremely low levels. Is it restocking or is it real demand I think its both. Our customers would only restock if they had better orders."

(Sourced from Reuters)