China sees a 6.7% rise in alumina production for November: SMM

According to Shanghai Metals Market, China’s total alumina production in November came in at 6.08 million tonnes, with average daily output at 203,000 tonnes. This marked a growth by 6.7 per cent from a year ago and 4.1 per cent from a month earlier. The entire production from January to November, thus, totalled at 64.3 million tonnes, 2.3 per cent higher than the same period last year.

New and expanded alumina capacity in Shanxi and Henan provinces, as well as production commencement after maintenance in Guizhou and Shanxi accounted for the increase, SMM learned. Eased supply tightness of raw materials in Shanxi also drove the production.

In Shanxi, however, November alumina output lowered due to maintenance across refineries, electric power plants, and baking furnaces. Visit of the environmental inspection team in Guizhou also affected the production at some plants of the region; tight supplies of bauxite also deterred operation at mills. In Zhengzhou of Henan, production curtailed at some refineries because of pollution weather. Environmental restrictions limited production in Shandong province as well in November.

SMM anticipates average daily alumina output in December to drop to 199,000 tonnes, down 2 per cent compared to November production. Production cuts across refineries in Henan will possibly be the reason for this daily output fall, SMM learned further. Nonetheless, the SMM analysis shows that the overall alumina production in December will likely stand higher than November to 6.17 million tonnes.