
As confirmed by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on Monday, China’s aluminium output in June rose 1.6 per cent from May to 2.83 million tonnes. The rise was mainly driven by gradual ramp-up of new smelting capacity.
According to Reuters collection based on NBS data, the world’s top aluminium producer reported a daily aluminium output of 94,000 tonnes in June month, compared with 90,000 tonnes in May, which had one extra day. The daily figure is the highest since June 2017 and the second-highest ever.
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However, June output was up 0.8 per cent YoY. The data released in June 2017 preceded illegal smelting capacity cut announcement in eastern China’s Shandong province and environmental restrictions on output in winter heating seasons. NBS has not updated the revised data for June 2017 yet which stands at 2.93 million tonnes.
Domestic aluminium prices fell by 4.1 per cent in June, but a favourable price arbitrage to international markets pushed exports up to a height of 510,000 tonnes.
According to Jackie Wang, an analyst at CRU in Beijing, production rose because of the recent launch of new smelting capacity in the Guangxi, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi regions. However, the ramp up is still slower than expected.
NBS data also showed that despite all the environmental checks and capacity curtailment, China produced 16.47 million tonnes of aluminium in H1 2018, a rise of 1.6 per cent from the same period last year.
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