Asian aluminum output up 12% in Jan-Nov

Aluminium production in the Asian region has shown a much faster growth than the growth in global output between January and November this year.

According to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), the London-based global industry body, the Asian region's aluminium output in the first 11 months of 2006 grew 11.6 per cent y-o-y to 3.18 million tonne.

In contrast, global aluminium production in the period grew merely 1.9 per cent y-o-y to 21.8 million tonne.

Data for the Asian region comprises India, Indonesia and Japan. Analysts said the continuance of strong demand from user industries such as the automobile and construction sectors in the Asian region helped in offsetting the sharp decline in prices of non-ferrous metals seen on the London Metal Exchange (LME) in May 2006.

At the close of trading last week, aluminium prices on the LME stood at $2,823 a tonne, a growth of approximately 23 per cent y-o-y.

Lacklustre growth in global aluminium production was attributed to a fall in output in North America and Western Europe in the period under consideration, said the IAI. Meanwhile, non-integrated players in the aluminium industry have benefited from a sharp reduction in prices of alumina "� the key input.

Spot alumina prices are currently hovering around $250 a tonne compared with $640 a tonne in early March this year. Alumina started weakening on the back of growth in worldwide output to 14.8 million tonne in the September 2006 quarter vis-a-vis 14.1 million tonne a year earlier.