Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) turned in its best half year profit in fourteen years last week even after Beijing’s mandatory cuts on aluminium outputs.
For the first six months of 2021 Chalco reported a net income of 3.075 billion yuan, better by over 8,000 percent on the year. Meanwhile, revenue grew in the half by 43.6 percent to 120.74 billion yuan. Chalco’s calculated net profit for the half totaled 2.11 billion yuan. The firm says its bottom line was boosted by better prices for its primary offerings.
Chalco’s primary aluminium production came to 1.96 million metric tons, up by 5.5 percent on the year, while alumina production in the first half totaled 8.25 million metric tons, increased by 14.3 percent on the year.
The firm’s strong bottom line was despite power use restrictions implemented at Baotou Aluminium in Inner Mongolia and by Yunnan and other provinces. Altogether the restrictions implemented on Chalco’s production totaled 1.2 million metric tons per annum.
Earlier in the week, Yunnan Aluminium, in which Chalco owns a 10-percent share, said it curtailed 637 thousand metric tons per annum of production capacity. The firm advised that the aluminium capacity cuts would mean the projected 2.87 million metric ton total for the year is unlikely to be met.