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China April aluminium output grows as costs increase

China's main aluminium production in April increased 7.2% from a year earlier, main information revealed on Friday, fuelled by increasing rates for the light metal in China and worldwide.

The world's most significant aluminium producer produced 3.58 million metric lots of primary aluminium in April, according to the data from the National Bureau of Data (NBS).

Typical daily output in April was 119,333 tons, compared with 115,806 loads in March, according to calculations based on the information.

Metal prices rallied in April as investors bet on increased potential customers for demand from China's clean energy sector, where aluminium is used in the making of solar elements and wind turbines. A softer U.S. dollar, that makes the metal less expensive in other currencies, also offered assistance.

The benchmark aluminium contract on the London Metal Exchange gained 4.1% in April, and the most-traded aluminium agreement on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 4.9%, exceeding the 20,000 yuan level, a two-year high.

That helped typical revenues for China's aluminium market to increase to 3,615 yuan per lot, almost double levels from a year earlier and 48% greater than in the previous month, a report by research house Antaike showed.

In Yunnan in the nation's southwest, China's fourth-biggest producing province or region, some operations resumed in April although the production outlook stays unpredictable in the hydropower reliant region due to drought and lowered rainfall.

For the very first four months of the year, China produced 14.24 million tons of aluminium, up 7.1% from a year previously, the NBS information revealed.

Production of 10 nonferrous metals in April - consisting of copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel - increased 7% from a year earlier to 6.5 million tonnes.

For January to April, output rose 7.1% to 25.89 million heaps, the data showed. The other non-ferrous metals are tin, antimony, mercury, magnesium and titanium.

(source: Reuters)