Slow management reaction to changes in the aluminium market, rising costs and heavy capital investments have weighed on earnings in recent years, UACJ President Miyuki Ishihara told a news conference.

"We aim at a quick and V-shaped recovery in our earnings through the restructuring of the profit structure and management," he said.

Under the plan, it will close the Nikko Works in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, and stop down-stream operations in the Fukaya Works in Saitama, near Tokyo. They both process aluminium sheet products used in automobiles.

UACJ will also cut its global workforce to 11,000 employees by March 2022 from 13,000, a figure which includes 5,000 overseas staff.

Around 700 job cuts will come from the sale of its copper tube business announced in June, while the rest will come from unprofitable or non-core operations overseas, Ishihara said, without giving details.

UACJ is looking to boost recurring profit by a total of 21 billion yen ($195 million) over the next three years to March 2023.

Blaming the negative impact on aluminium demand from the U.S.-China trade row and a slowing Chinese economy, UACJ in August more than halved its recurring profit forecast for the year to March 2020 to 4 billion yen from its May forecast of 11 billion yen.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, editing by Louise Heavens)