China's September aluminium production drops MoM to 2.79 Mt; YoY production up 7.1 per cent

According to a Reuters report, China’s primary aluminium production fell to its lowest level in September since May. This is a consecutive fall for a second month in September attributed to weaker aluminium prices and higher input costs.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Friday, China produced 2.79 million tonnes of aluminium last month, down 1.8 per cent from 2.84 million tonnes in August, but up 7.1 per cent YoY. September has one day lesser than in August and considering that, Reuters’ calculations determined China produced around 93,000 tonnes of primary aluminium daily in September.

In the first nine months of 2018, China produced 25.0 million tonnes of aluminium, a rise of 4.2 per cent from YTD 2017.

Primary Aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by 4.2 per cent in September, whereas spot alumina prices in the domestic market in the smelting heartland of east China region climbed up another 0.8 per cent after climbing by 10.8 per cent in August.

East China’s Shandong province started charging owners of captive power plants including major aluminium smelters, fees for electricity generated using the plants, which has raised their production costs. Key aluminium producers in Shandong have not yet announced any repetition of last year’s 30 per cent winter capacity cuts. But, they have to resort to it if city governments issue any such regulations.