China’s primary aluminium production in April 2024 improves Y-o-Y, accompanied by 1.24% increase in capacity

According to the Shanghai Metals Market survey, China’s primary aluminium production in April 2024 (30 calendar days) recorded a month-on-month decline of 1.13 per cent but a year-on-year increase of 4.93 per cent. 

As per the data revealed by SMM, China’s primary aluminium output in April was 3.515 million tonnes, compared to 3.555 million tonnes in March 2024 and 3.35 million tonnes in April 2023.

The domestic daily production in April 2024 was 117,200 tonnes, up by 2 per cent from 114,900 tonnes in March, despite the fall in monthly production. The share of aluminium liquid output rose 1.4 per cent M-o-M and 2 per cent Y-o-Y to about 75.36 per cent. 

In the first four months of 2024, China’s primary aluminium production totalled 13.965 million tonnes. 

Changes in production capacity

At the end of April 2024, China’s aluminium capacity was about 45.19 million tonnes, while its operating capacity was around 42.62 million tonnes and the operating rate around 94.31 per cent after growing by 4.31 per cent.  According to SMM data, operating capacity grew by 1.24 per cent month-on-month from 42.1 million tonnes, attributed to gradual production resumption in Yunnan. 

The ease of electricity shortage in Yunnan province, together with high aluminium prices, led to the second round of production resumption at local smelters. As of May 9, Yunnan’s annual operating capacity was about 5.15 million tonnes after being recovered by about 660,000 tonnes from early March and increasing by 480,000 tonnes from early April. 

In addition, smelters in Xinjiang and Guangxi resumed operations that were shut down due to maintenance.

 Forecast for May

SMM expects China’s domestic aluminium operating capacity to continue rising in May 2024 as the power supply in Yunnan is recovering steadily. The forecast is that around 350,000 tonnes per year of capacity in Yunnan will reach full production in May. The domestic aluminium operating capacity is likely to rise by 350,000 tonnes to 42.97 million tonnes at the end of May, and production will increase by 3.56 per cent to 3.64 million tonnes.

Sourced from SMM under the content exchange agreement