China’s aluminium production reached an all-time yearly high in 2020. Production stood at 37.08mn mt, surpassing the previous record output of 35.80mn mt in 2018, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Aluminium producers used the rise prices to their advantage and ramped up production for increased profits.
Production reached the highest monthly level in December, despite aluminium prices losing steam, state Chinese media reports. Output stood at 3.27mn mt, up by 2.8pc from 3.18mn mt in November. The earlier monthly record was of 3.2mn mt output in October 2020.
The country added around 300,000mt of smelting capacity in December 2019, which is said to have had a bearing on the production. In 2021, production is projected to rise by 6.5pc compared to 2020 levels. But the country will limit its annual production capacity to around 45mn mt in the coming years.
Non-ferrous metal production
The output of 10 non-ferrous metals in Dec was at 5.75mn mt, up by 8.6pc from Dec 2019, also setting a new monthly record. The previous monthly record production of 5.49mn mt was achieved in November 2020.
In 2020, the output of these metals stood at 61.68mn mt, a rise of 5.5pc.