Aluminium Market Update – April 2022

Macro Economy

• In March, China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ Index (PMI) was 49.5 percent, 0.7 percentage points lower than the previous month, below the critical point, indicating that the overall business level of the manufacturing industry has dropped. In terms of the size of enterprises, the PMI of large enterprises was 51.3 percent, 0.5 percentage points lower than last month, higher than the critical point. The MID-sized enterprise PMI was 48.5%, down 2.9 percentage points from the previous month, below the critical point. The PMI for small businesses was 46.6 percent, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous month and below the critical point.
• The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) today released the financial statistics report for the first quarter of 2022, showing that RMB loans increased by 8.34 trillion Yuan in the first quarter, 663.6 billion Yuan more than last year. Loans to enterprises and public institutions increased by 7.08 trillion Yuan.

Industry Information

• Recently, aluminum prices hit a three-week low, domestic fundamentals are weakening in the short term. The pace of investment and resumption of production of electrolytic aluminum in Yunnan is obviously accelerated, and the domestic supply is rapidly increasing. On the other hand, the demand is greatly affected by the epidemic, especially the transportation efficiency is seriously affected, and the downstream enterprises do not purchase enough raw materials.
• As of March 17, 2022, China’s effective electrolytic aluminum production capacity (calculated based on units with production capacity) was 46.347 million tons, with 39.118 million tons of electrolytic aluminum in operation, or 84.40 percent of the operating rate.

As of March 17, 2022, China’s total electrolytic aluminum production in 2022 was 2.747 million tons, with 1.58 million tons already in production and 1.167 million tons waiting to be produced. It is expected to resume production of 807,000 tons within the year, and the total production of 2.387 million tons is expected to be resumed within the year.

News of Corporates

Chinalco Advanced Manufacturing Co., Ltd.: In the first quarter of 2022, a number of production and operation indicators hit new highs, with output up 16.12%, sales up 12.9%, operating revenue up 45%, and profit up 82%.

The 2M alliance, made up of Maersk and Mediterranean Lines, announced it would change the number of sailings it serves on several routes from Asia to Europe. 2M alliance said that the adjustment was made to provide better reliability in the current challenging market conditions.