Despite a September fall of 3%, Gulf aluminium production increases sequentially in 3Q2023

According to the International Aluminium Institute survey, primary aluminium production in the Gulf Cooperation Council has continued to record a fall at a higher level during September 2023. In contrast to a drop of 2,000 tonnes in August, the output in September decreased by 17,000 tonnes or 3.29 per cent from 517,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes.

On a year-on-year basis, the production volume during the said month stood 1,000 tonnes less than 501,000 tonnes.

However, despite the fall in monthly production, the daily average output during September 2023 stood restrained at 16,700 tonnes, same for the past three months. Even in September 2022, the daily average primary aluminium output in the Gulf was 16,700 tonnes.

The Gulf’s total production of primary aluminium in the third quarter of 2023 amounted to 1.536 million tonnes, which surprisingly stood higher than the previous quarter by 0.59 per cent when compared to 1.527 million tonnes. On a year-on-year basis, the output stood almost the same compared to 1.533 million tonnes.

In the first nine months of 2023, primary aluminium production in the Gulf Cooperation Council was 4.573 million tonnes , up by 068 per cent from 4.542 million tonnes of output during the corresponding period of the previous year.

It is to be noted that the Gulf’s primary aluminium production during September’23 accounted for 5.82 per cent of the world’s output compared to 5.84 per cent in the previous month. Meaning, the difference is negligible in comparison to the month-on-month decline in the Gulf’s production. Therefore, it suggests that the world primary aluminium production also trended down in September. According to IAI, the world primary aluminium production in September 2023 was 5.871 million tonnes, down by 2.97 per cent from 6.051 million tonnes in August.

To know more about the primary aluminium market trend in the Gulf region, you may read our report “Global Aluminium Industry – Key Trends to 2030”. The report has a vivid description of the world aluminium market trend, including the GCC, in terms of the production of the metal, the technology development, and the advancement of sustainability moves.