The U.S. primary aluminium production up 24 % YoY in August; YTD production up 38%

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 3,949,088 tonnes during August 2019, declining -0.3% from the July 2019 rate of 3,959,885 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 6.2 per cent above the August 2018 rate of 3,820,267 tonnes. Actual North American production in August 2019 stood at 335,402 tonnes. For the first eight months of 2019, production stood at 2,658,437 tonnes. 

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The U.S. produced 94,106 tonnes of primary aluminium in August 2019, up 24% from August 2018 volume of 75,780 tonnes, which is a significant increase for the industry. For the first eight months of 2019, the U.S. produced 7,56,605 tonnes of aluminium, up 38% from 548,613 tonnes produced in the same period of 2018.

Canada produced 241,296 tonnes of primary aluminium in August 2019, down slightly month on month. The volume was 2% less from August 2018 volume of 248,681 tonnes. Canada's production in the first eight months stood at 1,901,832 tonnes, down about 2.6% from 1,954,130 tonnes. 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.