World’s primary aluminium production improves 2% Y-o-Y during 1Q2023 amid muted output in March

According to the International Aluminium Institute, the world's primary aluminium production in March 2023 stood at 5.772 miilion tonnes, bringing the total output in the first quarter to 16.895 million tonnes. The monthly production in March increased by 9.63 per cent from 5.265 million tonnes in February but remained almost restrained compared to 5.774 million tonnes a year ago.

The output in Q1 2023 registered a fall of 2.89 per cent from 17.397 million tonnes in Q4 2022 and an increase of 2.23 per cent from 16.527 million tonnes in Q1 2022.

IAI data also showed the world daily average primary aluminium production in March amounted to 186,200 tonnes, down by 0.96 per cent month-on-month from 188,000 tonnes and up by 0.50 per cent year-on-year from 185,300 tonnes.

In Q1, daily average production totalled 563,200 tonnes, up by 2.23 per cent from 550,900 tonnes a year ago.

In China, primary aluminium production during March 2023 stood at 3.39 million tonnes, reflecting a rise of 9 per cent M-o-M from 3.11 million tonnes. But on a year-on-year calculation, the output stood restrained compared to 3.36 million tonnes.

In the first quarter of the year, China produced 9.959 million tonnes of primary aluminium versus 10.332 million tonnes in Q4 2022 and 9.590 million tonnes in Q1 2022.

In the Gulf region, primary aluminium output during March was 519,000 tonnes, registering a rise of 10.43 per cent from 470,000 tonnes in February 2023. During Q1, primary aluminium production in the GCC countries totalled 1.513 million tonnes, down by 1.24 per cent from 1.532 million tonnes in Q4 2022 but up by 1.20 per cent from 1.495 million tonnes in Q1 2022.

In Asia (ex-China), primary aluminium production volume stood at 397,000 tonnes during March 2023 after escalating by 10.58 per cent M-o-M from 359,000 tonnes and by 1.79 per cent Y-o-Y from 390,000 tonnes. In Q1, the total output was 1.146 million tonnes, up by 0.79 per cent from 1.137 million tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous month.