SHANGHAI, Dec 13 (SMM) – Chinese secondary aluminium producers continued to step up operation in November, as demand from downstream automakers increased at year-end. 

An SMM survey showed that operating rates across secondary aluminium producers in China rose to 62.57% in November. This was up 0.05 percentage point on the month and up 1.05 percentage points on the year.

Large-scale secondary aluminium producers contributed to most of the rise in operating rate. Improved orders from carmakers boosted operating rates at some major producers of secondary aluminium to the highest level this year. 

The overall increase in operating rates was capped as small and medium-scale secondary aluminium producers reduced production significantly due to limited source of raw materials. This was especially the case for producers in Ningbo of Zhejiang, and Foshan and Qingyuan of Guangdong, who had a high dependency on seaborne aluminium scrap. Some secondary aluminium plants more than halved their production, with operation rate below 30% in November. 

Despite the ongoing restocking before the Chinese New Year holiday, operating rates in the secondary aluminium industry are expected to fall in December as producers only limitedly accept orders for December on grater increase in prices of aluminium scrap than that of finished products.