Will More Idled Aluminum Capacity be Restarted in China? SMM Reports

SHANGHAI, Mar. 24 (SMM) – Capacity restarts allowed China’s aluminum output to stop falling in February. Perhaps what concerns everyone most is under what conditions will more smelters decide to bring idled lines back into operation?  

“More smelters will resume production only when alumina prices lose upward momentum along with growing supply and aluminum prices recover to more than 12,000 yuan per tonne,” SMM aluminum analyst Liu Xiaolei said. 

In fact, the 0.3% year-on-year output growth was contributed mainly by production restarts at Chongqing Jinghongyuan and Ningxia Qingtongxia Aluminum, Liu said. Other smelters have little intention of following suit for now, due to tight cash and not attractive enough aluminum prices, Liu added.   

China’s aluminum output totaled 2.35 million tonnes in February, up from a year ago, but down from 2.49 million tonnes in January, SMM statistics showed.  

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