SMM, 9 May:
Electrolytic aluminum:
According to SMM data, China's electrolytic aluminum output in April 2020 (30 days) was 2.958 million tons, an increase of 2.4 percent over the same period last year. By the end of April, the operating capacity of electrolytic aluminum in China was 36.51 million tons / a, with an annual capacity of 41.23 million tons / year. The operating rate of electrolytic aluminum enterprises in China was 88.5%. The overall operating rate was 0.7 percentage points higher than that at the end of March 2020. by the end of April, The operating capacity of domestic electrolytic aluminum increased by 300000 tons / year compared with the end of March. Aluminum prices bottomed out in early April, the proportion of production capacity with cash loss narrowed, SMM statistics cumulative maintenance capacity reduced to 570000 tons / year, at the same time, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and other provinces have new and resumed production capacity as scheduled.
From January to April 2020, the cumulative output of domestic electrolytic aluminum was 11.934 million tons, an increase of 3.6% over the same period last year. From January to April, the cumulative consumption of domestic electrolytic aluminum was 10.7 million tons, down 5.5% from the same period last year. Driven by strong domestic demand, the social inventory of domestic electrolytic aluminum was quickly removed. In May, under the support of aluminum prices, it is expected that new electrolytic aluminum production capacity will continue to be put into production as planned, while the scale of overhaul and reduced production capacity will be narrowed. SMM estimates that domestic electrolytic aluminum production in May (31 days) will be 3.07 million tons, down to 0.1 percent year-on-year growth rate.
Source: SMM
Alumina:
According to SMM data, in April (30 days), China produced 5.645 million tons of alumina, of which metallurgical grade alumina was 5.395 million tons, and the average daily output of metallurgical grade was 179800 tons, an increase of 2.61% from the previous month, down 7.07% from January to April. China's cumulative metallurgical grade alumina production decreased by 8.61% from January to April. Alumina prices hit bottom in April, and the area of production reduction affected by the epidemic in Shanxi and Henan has narrowed. At the same time, the production of some imported ore production lines invested by Guodian in Shanxi, Luoyang Wanji and Chongqing Bosai has been reduced within the month. Under the background of increasing and decreasing production, the average daily output of alumina in April was slightly higher than the previous month.
As of early May, the operating capacity of metallurgical grade alumina was 65.08 million tons. In May (31 days), the output of metallurgical grade alumina is expected to be 5.527 million tons, and the average daily output has dropped slightly to about 178000 tons. This is mainly due to the further reduction of production in the import line of some northern alumina plants (Chinalco, Shanxi, etc.). The reduction of production is possible. It is necessary to pay continuous attention to the changes of imported ore production lines in Shanxi and Henan areas and the willingness to reduce production capacity and resume production capacity under the condition of mild price increases.
Source: SMM
