China’s aluminium imports drop 16% Y-o-Y to 188,469 tonnes but exports post a hike of 54%

According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs on Saturday, June 18, China’s aluminium imports in May 2022 decreased by 16.4 per cent year-on-year. That brought the total imports to 188,469 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products – including primary metal & unwrought and alloyed aluminium.

So far this year, China’s monthly aluminium imports have been below 200,000 tonnes due to arbitrage window shut for cheaper overseas metal and weak downstream demand for the fresh COVID-induced lockdown.

However, on a month-on-month calculation, the imports in May grew by 7.52 per cent or 13,180 tonnes from 175,289 tonnes, showed the General Customs data.

On the other hand, China’s unwrought aluminium and aluminium products exports surged by 54 per cent from a year earlier to amount to 676,605 tonnes in May. As per the calculation, the export volume stood the highest in at least nine years.

This growth could be attributed to the lower domestic downstream demand versus production.

China’s imports of bauxite, the main aluminium ore source, were 11.97 million tonnes in May, up by 7.55 per cent month-on-month from 11.13 million tonnes and 31.39 per cent on year from 9.11 million tonnes.