Hongqiao and Xinfa drop out of the top five in ingot production

Referring to the lead item, the team in Zibo has examined who is leading the pack for 2024 aluminium production to date in China.

According to our analysis, Chinalco Group (1.8mt), Weiqiao Group (1.55mt), Xinfa Group (900kt), State Power Investment Corporation (717kt) and Oriental Hope Group (533kt) made the top five in terms of primary aluminium production.

But when looking at ingot production, Hongqiao and Xinfa dropped out of the picture and were replaced by Qiya and Shenhuo. In other words, Hongqiao and Xinfa rely more on liquid metal transfers than the others at the top of the list.

Overall, liquid metal transfers now represent a shade over three-quarters of all production. According to our analysis, there's still room for more direct deliveries of hot metal, especially in this peak demand season. That means supply to the physical market will remain under pressure, keeping prices well supported.

Smelters in Yunnan province continue to restart capacity. Another 120,000 tonnes of capacity was restarted last week alone. That brings the total restarted since March to 550,000 tonnes. The total for that region is now back over 5 million tonnes.