China’s aluminium imports from Russia nearly double in last 12 months to 538,600 tonnes

When western countries turned back on Russian aluminium, China nearly doubled its imports from Russia. According to the data recently released by China customs, the country's imports of refined aluminium from Russia surged 94 per cent year-on-year to about 538,600 tonnes from March 2022 to February 2023, a record annual volume on a moving-average basis.

Customs data also showed China's aluminium imports from Russia recorded more than three-fold growth in January and February 2023, surging 266.2 per cent. Compared to 28,759 tonnes in the first two months of 2022, China's aluminium imports from Russia amounted to 105,300 tonnes during the same period of this year.

The total value of the two-month imports was $248.39 million, or an average price of $2,359 a tonne.

 Russian aluminium inflows into China were expected as western traders and shipping companies shunned supplies from Russia. For instance, the United States recently imposed a 200 per cent tariff on all imports of Russian-made aluminium.

Aluminium flow from Russia to China is likely to grow further as Rusal has been looking to supply more low-carbon aluminium to meet the rising demand from China's electric vehicle firms.

Commodity trade Trafigura Group is in talks to buy about 150,000 tonnes of aluminium from Rusal on a delivered-China basis, people familiar with the matter said late last month.

Imports of alumina from Russia also soared to 1.08 million tonnes between March 2022 and February 2023, up from about 2,300 tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous year, showed customs data.

Rusal's, the Russian aluminium giant, reported last week that its primary metal output rose 2 per cent last year to 3.84 million tonnes. But alumina output fell 28 per cent to 5.95 million tonnes last year.