Global aluminum production rises and demand growth slows

According to a report by Reuters, global aluminum production continues to rise, but demand growth remains sluggish.

In recent months, in addition to the increase in China’s production, the output of Western countries has also increased. The rate of increase in the previous three months persisted and fell in January. The International Aluminum Association (IAI) predicts that aluminum refinery capacity will increase by 5.5% this year and 3.7% next year (except China).

This means that during the two years, the annual production will increase by 2.5 million tons.

It is estimated that this year's growth mainly comes from the Gulf region (23%) and Asia (14%) except China. In the Middle East, by 2015, production will increase to 5.4 million tons, which is more than double the 2009 output.

Rusal on the one hand promoted the rationalization of production capacity while increasing production at the lower-cost Siberia smelter. In China, new low-cost production areas in the northwest have increased their new production capacity by 11% last year. Raw metal is suppressed due to an export tax of up to 15%. According to HSBC's chart, the export volume of semi-finished products is still increasing.