China's aluminum demand in first-quarter 2017 surged 15% year on year to 8.24 million mt, on the back of consumption by the real estate, car and power sectors -- the key aluminum consumers, the Henan Provincial Nonferrous Metals Guild said in a report on its website on Thursday.
The guild, which is a metals industry association, has over 100 producer-members and advises the government on non-ferrous metal industry policies and laws, and is also into metals research.
Other factors supporting the rise in aluminum demand in Q1 include the mainland China macro-policy and better aluminum prices, the guild said.
China's aluminum sector earned a profit of Yuan 7.1 billion ($1.065 billion) in Q1 2017, compared with a loss of Yuan 5 billion in Q1 2016, the data showed. The sector's sales revenue in Q1 2017 was Yuan 141.6 billion, up 37% year on year, according to the guild.
Chinese domestic alumina spot prices averaged at Yuan 2,438/mt ($366/mt) in April 2017, down 11% month on month, with prices having fallen to Yuan 2,300/mt by end-April, the guild data showed.
In April, China's average daily national alumina and refined aluminum outputs were 213,000 mt and 92,000 mt, respectively, which were the highest thus far, the guild data showed.
As of end-April, the country's total aluminum stock was more than 1.2 million mt, also hitting a historically high level. March's volume was undisclosed though.
As of June 2, the Shanghai Futures Exchange has refined aluminum stocks of 435,001 mt, up 21,375 mt from the week of May 31, SHFE data showed.
China's national aluminum demand has been forecast to grow from an estimated 34.02 million mt in 2016 to 46.68 million-50.93 million mt by 2023, with the coming of the lightweight industry age in the mainland, as well as demand support by the domestic template, car, decoration, construction, and electronics sectors, according to the China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association.
China produced 24.46 million mt of alumina and 10.97 million mt of refined aluminum in Q1 2017, up 21% and 10% year on year, respectively, the guild data showed.
