The Aluminum Association, in cooperation with the Aluminium Association of Canada, reported primary aluminium production in North America (U.S. and Canada) was at an annual rate of 3,936,695 tonnes during September 2019, declining -0.3% from the August 2019 rate of 3,949,088 tonnes. The production rate in both the U.S. and Canada fell slightly month-on-month. Compared to a year ago, the North American annual rate was 5.8 per cent above the Septemebr 2018 rate of 3,831,539 tonnes. Actual North American production in September 2019 stood at 323,564 tonnes. For the first nine months of 2019, production stood at 2,982,001 tonnes.
The U.S. produced 90,316 tonnes of primary aluminium in September 2019, up 18% from September 2018 volume of 76,578 tonnes, which is a significant increase for the industry. For the first nine months of 2019, the U.S. produced 846,921 tonnes of aluminium, up 35.4% from 625,191 tonnes produced in the same period of 2018.
Canada produced 233,248 tonnes of primary aluminium in September 2019, down slightly month on month. The volume was 2% less from September 2018 volume of 238,343 tonnes. Canada's production in the first eight months of 2019 stood at 2,135,080 tonnes, down about 2.6% from 2,192,473 tonnes in YTD 2018. The fall was driven by the operation closure at Aluminerie de Bécancour (ABI) Smelter in Québec due to labour issues. Alcoa recently announced that the ABI aluminium smelter would restart curtailed smelting capacity soon as the members of the United Steelworkers union approved a new six-year labour agreement.
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