Operating rate at China’s large aluminium processing enterprises drops slightly by 0.6 percentage point

Operating rate at China’s large aluminium processing enterprises dropped 0.6 percentage point last week ended August 13, attributing mainly to production and transportation disruptions caused by spreading pandemic and power consumption restrictions. Besides, high aluminium prices affected production and orders at processing enterprises.

Operating rate at large aluminium plate and strip enterprises fell to 75.4 per cent as producers in Henan were operating at just half of their capacity or closed completely due to severe power shortage. Many producers in Yunnan and Guangxi were also affected by electricity consumption curb and operated at less than half of their capacity.

Operating rate at large aluminium wire and cable companies dropped slightly, while on the other hand, large primary aluminium alloy enterprises’ operating rates rose 1 percentage point to 60.2 per cent.

Operating rate at large aluminium foil enterprises and secondary aluminium alloy enterprises remained flat. Some secondary aluminium enterprises stopped taking new orders and are focusing on delivering existing orders instead in response to tight aluminium scrap supply and high aluminium scrap prices.

Operating rate at large aluminium extrusion enterprises was stable, despite a decline in new orders in the off-season. Backlog orders allowed large enterprises to maintain normal production. Orders at small and medium-sized enterprises are expected to remain sluggish till the end of this month.