Operating rates across secondary aluminium producers extend rises in Aug

SHANGHAI, Sep 18 (SMM) – Chinese secondary aluminium producers continued to ramp up operation in August as downstream plants in north China restocked in advance from mid-August on worries about environmental curbs before the National Day on October 1. 

An SMM survey showed that operating rates across secondary aluminium producers in China climbed to 56.46% in August. This was up 1.18 percentage points from July and 3.34 percentage points from August 2018.

Consumption of secondary aluminium picked up in late-August, after a seasonal lull in May-July reduced inventories of both feedstock and finished products across secondary aluminium producers. 

As the latest import quotas for aluminium scrap barely shrank, ample supply of cheap overseas scrap also guaranteed higher operation across major secondary aluminium smelters that use seaborne materials as feedstock. 

Summer breaks at die-casting and secondary aluminium producers in Chongqing capped the increase in overall operating rates in August. 

SMM expects demand recovery to further lift operating rates across Chinese secondary aluminium producers in September, but only at a slow pace.