China’s October aluminium production dropped 0.7% M-o-M, but rose 1.8% over the year: NBS

According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China in October produced 2.88 million tonnes of aluminium, down 0.7 per cent from 2.90 million tonnes in September and 1.8 per cent from the same period last year, as smelter shutdowns continued to weigh on output.

Although the month-on-month decline in China’s aluminium output reduced in October, yet the year-on-year fall increased, compared with that in September. The NBS data had shown that China's September aluminium output had dropped 2.36 per cent from 2.9 million tonnes in August and 1.6 per cent from September 2018.

The daily average output was at 92,900 tonnes in October, the lowest since March. In September, it was at 96,700 tonnes, meaning 4 per cent down in October.

Top producer China Hongqiao Group’s facilities were affected by flood in August, while Xinfa group closed potlines due to an explosion a week later. As a result, China’s monthly aluminium production, as well as daily average output dropped. Smelting lines usually take several months to fully resume production.

Jackie Wang, an aluminium consultant at CRU in Beijing, said: “We’ve had several accidents and flooding issues which impacted capacity, so that is the major reason why we are seeing the decline.”

“New ramp ups have also been delayed so this is probably within people’s expectation. Our numbers show we will see primary aluminium output decline year-on-year in 2019, by about 1.7%, but for 2020 we expect to see a big increase in primary output as new projects come in,” he added.

Hongqiao Group Chairman Zhang Bo said on Thursday, November 14, that the company in this winter would not cut its aluminium production, having already closed some capacity after floods this year.

However, the total aluminium production in the first 10 months of 2019 recorded a growth of 0.7 per cent year-on-year to come in at 29.24 million tonnes, leaving it on course for record annual product.