Aluminium Smelters with Captive Power Plants Benefited from Falling Coal Prices

SHANGHAI, Feb 13 (SMM) – The power costs of aluminium smelters with captive power plants declined in tandem with falling coal prices, but the grid power tariffs barely changed. SMM data showed that the weighted average electricity price of smelters dipped 0.02 yuan/kwh from the beginning of January to 0.44 yuan/kwh as of February 10. The full costs of smelters fell 179 yuan/mt from a week ago to 17,265 yuan/mt last Friday, while their profits shrank 134 yuan/mt to 1,305 yuan/mt, dragged down by lower aluminium prices. The SMM A00 aluminium prices stood at 18,570 yuan/mt.

In the short term, coal prices are at risk of going down further, while grid power tariffs may lag behind. Coupled with lower prebaked anode prices, aluminium costs may still have room to drop.