SHANGHAI, May 21 (SMM) – World primary aluminium surplus came in at 709,000 mt for the first three months of 2020, compared with a surplus of 761,000 mt recorded for the whole of 2019, according to the report by the World Bureau of Metals Statistics (WBMS) released Wednesday.

In the January-to-March period, global demand for primary aluminium inched up 3.5% year on year to for 15.7 million mt, while production rose by 5.8% to about 16.4 million mt.

Output from China accounted for about 54%, or 8.84 million mt of the world’s total, amid higher availability of imported bauxite and alumina.

For the same period, the country’s apparent demand for primary alumimium rose 5.8% year on year even as its output of semi-manufactures fell by 6%.

Total reported stocks rebounded in March, reaching 2.17 million mt by the end of that month, some 22,000 mt higher than the end of last year.

In March 2020, world primary aluminium production was 5.54 million mt while demand was 5.24 million mt.