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Al market in surplus in H1 2011

The primary aluminium market remained in surplus for the period January to June 2011.

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According to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics the market surplus was 221.3kt which compares with a surplus of 516.2kt registered in H1 2010 and with a surplus of 1036kt in the whole of 2010.

Demand for primary aluminium in H1 2011 was 21.06Mt, 872kt more then the equivalent total in 2010. Production in January to June rose by 578kt following on from a 3.9Mt increase over the whole of 2010.

Total reported stocks fell by 364kt during June. At the end of June total stocks were 6.61Mt, which equated to just over 60 days demand and compares with 6.50Mt at the end of last year.

Overall, global production rose in January to June by 2.8% compared to H1 2010. Chinese output was estimated at 8686kt which accounts for just under 41% of total world production. China was a net exporter of unwrought aluminium with exports exceeding imports by 185kt.

For the whole of 2010, Chinese net exports were 390kt. Production in the EU27 rose by 6.7% and NAFTA output was 3.7% higher.

EU27 demand was 12.4% above the January to June 2010 period. Global demand rose by 4.3% in the first half of the year compared with levels recorded a year ago. In June 2011, primary aluminium production was 3662.4kt and consumption was 3747.9kt.

The above data is taken from World Metal Statistics August 2011.

Source: aluminiumtoday.com

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