World primary aluminium production slightly down YoY in August

Global primary aluminium production in August 2019 stood 1.46% lower compared with the same period of 2018.  Aluminium production registered 5.407 million tonnes last month, from 5.487 million tonnes in August 2018, according to the latest data showed by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) on Friday, September 20.  The output was almost flat in comparison with July’s figure.

Primary aluminium production stood at 42.464 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, from 42.722 million tonnes in the first eight months of 2018. This records a slip of 0.6% year-on-year.

In Asia ex-China, aluminium production totalled 374,000 tonnes in August 2019, representing a drop of 0.8% per cent from 377,000 tonnes in August 2018. But the output increased by 0.54% month-on-month. Primary aluminium production in January-August stood at 2.939 million tonnes, from 2.932 tonnes in January-August 2018.  In the Middle East, primary aluminium production came in at 469,000 tonnes in August 2019, up 3.3% from 454,000 tonnes in August 2018 and 0.64% from 466,000 tonnes in July 2019. Production of primary aluminium stood at 3.653 million tonnes in the first eight months of this year.

Europe’s primary aluminium production totalled 642,000 tonnes in August compared with 664,000 tonnes in the corresponding period the previous year. In the first eight months of 2019, primary aluminium production stood at 5.065 million tonnes.

China’s estimated primary aluminium production stood at 3.050 million tonnes in August, IAI data showed.