China Aluminum and Alumina Output to Grow Further in October

China’s alumina and aluminum output increased in September due to production restarts, and will continue growing in October, SMM expects. 

SMM survey showed China’s alumina output, though down 0.66% from August, rose 4.79% from a year ago to 4.94 million tonnes in September. The average daily output increased 2.65% from August, contributed by production recovery at Shanxi Huaxing Aluminum and Xiangjiang Wanji Aluminum. 

SMM sees China’s alumina output rising 7.83% year-on-year to 5.3 million tonnes, citing incentive to produce from rising alumina prices. SMM learned alumina producers in Shandong have begun resuming production and Chalco (Shanxi) has also restarted production.     

China’s aluminum output also increased, and annualized operational aluminum capacity increased some 744,000 tonnes to 32.91 million tonnes. This was contributed by new capacity release and production restarts.

At current pace of capacity growth, China will see another 300,000 tonne increase in operational aluminum capacity in October, SMM predicts.   

The table below shows output data for September: