Analysis of China's electrolytic aluminum production operation in December 2024

​​According to Mysteel's statistics, as of the end of December, China's electrolytic aluminum production capacity was 45.4985 million tons / year, an increase of 0.42% month on month and 0.71% year on year. The operating capacity was around 43.5583 million tons / year, down 0.05% month on month and up 3.35% year on year. This month continued to resume production and production reduction in parallel, high costs, The industry's loss scale widened, inspections and production cuts were implemented in Sichuan and Guangxi regions, and the narrowing of profits slowed the pace of aluminum enterprises in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guizhou. At the end of the month, new replacement projects in Qinghai started production, but the initial output contribution was small, and other regions maintained relatively stable operations. In January 2025, Mysteel will continue to follow the progress of production and maintenance in various regions.

Mysteel conducted a full sample survey of China's primary aluminum production enterprises. In December 2024, China's primary aluminum production was 3.7152 million tons, an increase of 2.92% year-on-year and 3.19% month-on-month. The average daily output in December was 119.8 thousand tons, 0.02 million tons lower than the previous month (31 days of actual production).

Mysteel research, in December 2024, China's electrolytic aluminum production capacity is about 360 thousand tons / year, in view of the current rising costs and production safety considerations, a large electrolytic aluminum enterprise in Henan this month to stop part of the aging of the electrolytic cell, the total operating capacity of the enterprise is about 780 thousand tons / year; An electrolytic aluminum enterprise in Guangxi plans to start technical transformation of 100 thousand tons of capacity in January, ahead of schedule to December to shut down production; Sichuan entered the dry season in December. The cost of electricity exceeded the expectation of aluminum plants. The number of local aluminum plants for tank shutdown and maintenance was further expanded. This month, a total of about 170 thousand tons of production was stopped. An electrolytic aluminum enterprise in Chongqing is normally stopped for maintenance, involving 6 electrolytic cells, with a converted production capacity of about 10,000 tons / year. Inner Mongolia aluminum plant phase three replacement project, the old plant production of about 100 thousand tons / year.

According to Mysteel research, there is no resumption of aluminum electrolysis capacity in China in December 2024.

According to Mysteel, in December 2024, China's new electrolytic aluminum production capacity was about 320 thousand tons per year, including 550 thousand tons of replacement capacity of an aluminum plant in Xinjiang, 70,000 tons of idle capacity of an aluminum plant in Ningxia and the third phase of replacement capacity of an aluminum plant in Inner Mongolia.

In January 2025, the capacity replacement and upgrading project of 600ka electrolysis tank in an aluminum factory in Qinghai has been electrified and put into operation. The idle production capacity in Ningxia has ended, and the replacement and transfer projects in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang are still in operation. Therefore, based on the steady production of a number of capacity replacement projects, Mysteel expects that the operating capacity will still increase, but the increase will slow down.