Chalco Forecasts 2009 Loss on Aluminum Prices, Demand

BEIJING, Jan. 19 -- Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the nation's biggest producer, said it expects to post a loss for the year ended Dec. 31 on lower metal prices and demand.

The company didn't elaborate in its filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. A Bloomberg survey of 22 analysts expected the company to post a loss of between 310 million yuan ($44 million) and 2.7 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg data.

Chalco, as the Beijing-based company is known, cut metals production and costs to curb losses after metal prices slumped. The company began to make profit in the third quarter as China's 4 trillion yuan stimulus package boosted demand from automakers and construction companies.

"The loss was expected by the market, so it won't have an impact on the stock," Helen Lau, a Hong Kong-based analyst at OSK Asia Holding Ltd., said today. "Second-half profit was not adequate to recover the loss incurred in the first half."

Chalco fell 0.3 percent to close at HK$9.67 at 4 p.m. local time. The stock has gained 13 percent this year.

Chalco posted a loss of 3.5 billion yuan for the first nine months, compared with a profit of 2.6 billion yuan a year earlier, according to its quarterly statement on Oct. 27.

Aluminum futures in Shanghai averaged 13,836 yuan a ton in 2009, down from 17,275 yuan a ton the previous year, according to Bloomberg data.