China’s primary aluminium production for the month of December 2018 stood at over 2.99 million tonnes, down 0.3% from a year ago, but up 1.1% on the month. This lowered overall production by 0.6% year on year to 36.12 million tonnes in 2018, according to the data shared by Shanghai Metals Market.
Source:Shanghai Metals Market
By the end of December, domestic primary aluminium capacity under operation stood at 36.06 million tonnes per year, down 1.64 million tonnes per year from a high at the end of June.
More aluminium plants cut capacity in December, including high-costs mills in provinces of Shandong, Gansu, Shanxi, Ningxia, and Henan. Aluminium capacity cuts exceeded 3 million tonnes in 2018. Established aluminium capacity stood at 42.12 million tonnes per year by the end of December, with average operating rate at 85.6%.
However, some new capacity continued to commission in January, and capacity expanded further at mills such as Shanxi Meixin, Inner Mongolia’s Chuangyuan and Guyang, Guangxi Baikuang, and Yunnan Aluminium.
SMM expects China’s output of primary aluminium to grow 0.5% on the month to 3.01 million tonnes in January, but 0.1% lower than January 2018.
Production of most base metals are likely to shrink in January as production slows ahead of Chinese New Year.
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