BEIJING : China’s primary aluminium production rose 9.3 per cent in September from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, with smelters in a few main regions ramping up output after authorities in the world’s top metal producer relaxed power restrictions.
Production in China stood at 3.42 million tonnes last month, according to data from National Bureau of Statistics. This marked an increase from last year, when China saw a drop in industrial production because of electricity shortages.
Last year, several Chinese regions had imposed power curbs on energy-intensive industries such as aluminium production, including the smelting hubs of Yunnan and Inner Mongolia, to ease tight electricity supply and meet energy consumption targets.
Still, production in September dropped 2.5 per cent from 3.51 million tonnes seen in the prior month, as Yunnan had asked its aluminium producers to cut power usage, with no sign of when restrictions will be lifted, from Sept. 10 because of tight hydropower supply.
The decision led to a loss of about 1.07 million tonnes a year in operating capacity in Yunnan, which accounts for about 12 per cent of China’s total aluminium capacity, from the end of August, according to the Shanghai Metals Market (SMM).
For the first nine months of the year, China produced 29.88 million tonnes of aluminium, up 2.8 per cent from the corresponding period last year, the data showed.
Production of 10 nonferrous metals – including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel – climbed 8.8 per cent to 5.78 million tonnes in September from a year earlier. Output in the first nine months of the year rose 2.8 per cent to 49.83 million tonnes.
The other non-ferrous metals are tin, antimony, mercury, magnesium and titanium.
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