COVID-19 impact: Chalco’s Q1 profit declines 93% on lower sales

Aluminium Corp of China Ltd, known as Chalco, announced that the company’s net profit declined year-on-year on lower sales due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company’s net income came in at 30.7 million yuan in the first quarter of 2020, a drop of 93.1 per cent from 444.9 million yuan in the first quarter of 2019.

“Affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, the market price of the company’s leading products decreased significantly,” Chalco said in the filing.

According to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, revenue in the first quarter decreased 8 per cent year-on-year.  Revenues stood at 39.67 billion yuan in the mentioned period as demand declined due to the coronavirus and panicked investors sold off commodities across the board, Reuters reported.

Shanghai aluminium prices decreased by 17.6 per cent over the three months and hit a four-year low of RMB11,255 a tonne in late March.

Chalco had said earlier this month that it may consider carrying out maintenance or even shut some aluminium production if prices fall below its cash costs. They may also cut the production of raw material.