Africa’s primary aluminium production closed 2023 at a 1.48% Y-o-Y low despite sequential growth each quarter

In 2023, Africa's primary aluminium production reached 1.596 million tonnes, with an output of 133,000 tonnes in the last month of the year. According to the International Aluminium Institute survey, Africa's primary aluminium production in 2023 registered a fall of 1.48 per cent from 1.62 million tonnes in 2022.

The decline in annual output during 2023 was primarily due to abysmally low production during February at 123,000 tonnes and April at 129,000 tonnes. The production in December stood at 133,000 tonnes, up by 1,000 tonnes from November 2023 but down by 8,000 tonnes or 5.71 per cent from 140,000 tonnes.

Africa's daily average production in December was 4,300 tonnes, slightly less than in November despite the rise in monthly output. On a year-on-year calculation, the daily production recorded a fall of 4.44 per cent from 4,500 tonnes, showed IAI.

Compared to the year's first half, Africa's primary aluminium production rebounded in H2 by 2.28 per cent, reaching 807,000 tonnes from 789,000 tonnes. Each quarter showed a sequential growth from 392,000 tonnes in Q1 to 404,000 tonnes in Q4.

In Q2, Africa's primary aluminium production stood at 397,000 tonnes, up by 5,000 tonnes or 1.28 per cent from 392,000 tonnes. In Q3, the output further grew by 1.51 per cent, amounting to 403,000 tonnes.

But on a year-on-year basis, Africa's output stood low every quarter. In Q1, the production was 1.26 per cent down from 397,000 tonnes, while the output in Q2 edged 1.98 per cent less than 405,000 tonnes. In the next two quarters, Africa's primary aluminium production was 2.42 per cent and 0.25 per cent down from 413,000 tonnes and 405,000 tonnes, respectively.