China’s aluminium production improves 8.4% in January & February 2021 with daily output at a new record high

According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s aluminium production gained 8.4 per cent year-on-year in the first two months of 2021, attributing to new capacities and soaring prices.

In January and February combined, primary aluminium output in China was 6.45 million tonnes, suggesting a record average daily output at 109,300 tonnes versus 105,400 tonnes in December and beating the previous record of about 106,000 tonnes in November.

CRU analyst Wan Ling commented that the rise in China’s primary aluminium production in January and February was mainly due to last year’s capacity increase in the southwestern Yunnan province and Inner Mongolia.

In January and February, China added 220,000 tonnes of annual primary aluminium production capacity, all of it in the emerging smelting hub of Yunnan province in Southwest China, according to consultancy Aladdiny.

On price point, Shanghai aluminium prices fell 3.3 per cent in January but surged 16.3 per cent in February to stand highest in the last nine and half years at more than RMB 17,500 per tonne.

CRU’s Wan Ling projects China’s net increase of aluminium capacity would be 1.33 million tonnes per year in 2021, bringing the total annual production capacity to 47.83 million tonnes.

"The new capacity will mainly come from Yunnan in 2021," Wan said.