China March overseas aluminum output and April forecast

According to SMM statistics, overseas aluminium output was 2.529 million mt in March (31 days), up 0.1% YoY. The overseas average aluminum production capacity utilization rate is 87.5%, down 0.1% MoM but up 1.2% YoY. The overseas aluminum output totalled 7.436 million mt in the first 3 months of 2024, up 0.2% YoY.
By region, the shutdown of the New Madrid plant in the US caused production in North America to fall by 1.7% YoY to 330,000 mt in March. The plant announced it would stop production in January 2024, and SMM estimated that it might have completely stopped production by the end of March. In South America, local production rose by 5.4% YoY to 121,000 mt as Alcoa's Alumar plant has been restarting slowly since April 2022. SMM estimates that the plant's capacity utilization rate had recovered to around 65% by the end of March. Russia's total aluminum production increased by 2.2% YoY to 349,000 mt due to the restart of UC RUSAL's Taishet plant. According to SMM statistics, the Taishet plant produced about 16,000 mt in March, with a capacity utilization rate of about 44%. In Europe excluding Russia, production fell by 2.4% YoY to 315,000 mt due to the shutdown of the Neuss plant in Germany. Smelters in other regions maintained steady operation, especially in India. India's aluminum output rose by 1.6% YoY to 349,000 mt in March.