KONTAN.CO.ID - BEIJING. China's primary aluminium output in the first two months of 2024 climbed 5.5% from last year as higher prices encouraged production, official data showed on Monday.

The world's biggest aluminium producer churned out 7.1 million metric tons of primary aluminium in January and February, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China combines output data for January and February into one release to smooth out the impact of the Lunar New Year holidays, which fall in either of the months.

Smelters in China enjoyed an average profit of 1,964 yuan ($272.90) per ton in February, 50% higher than the same period a year earlier, due to higher prices for the metal, according to research house Antaike.

The metal is widely used in automobiles, construction and packaging sectors.

The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) averaged at 18,840 yuan per ton in February, compared to 17,605 yuan a ton last year. January prices were also higher year-on-year.

Antaike, however, said that profits were lower than previous months because of higher prices of alumina, one of the key raw materials for smelters.

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Growing supply weighed on prices of the metal, in a time of weak demand during the Lunar New Year holidays.

Aluminium stocks monitored by SHFE warehouses rose by about 80% in February.

Smelters in Yunnan, the country's fourth-biggest aluminium-producing region, remained under production curbs in the first two months that began around November due to the annual dry season, which normally lasts until the second quarter.

Production in Yunnan is likely to resume as power supply improves in March, China Futures analysts wrote in a note dated March 17, but said output growth would be constrained by limited power supply increase and smelters' maintenance.

Production of ten nonferrous metals - including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel – rose 5.7% to 12.77 million tonnes from a year earlier. The other non-ferrous metals are tin, antimony, mercury, magnesium and titanium.

China imported 720,000 tons of unwrought aluminium and products including primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium in January and February, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Monday.

That was up 93.6% from the same period a year earlier.

Imports of bauxite, a key raw material for aluminium, climbed 4% to 24.48 million tons in the first two months, the data showed.

Editor: Wahyu T.Rahmawati