China's aluminium producer Chalco returns to profit in Jan-Sept

Accendra Health

20/10/2016 13:36

HONG KONG, Oct 20 (Reuters) - China's state-owned Aluminum 
Corporation of China Ltd (Chalco)  601600.SS   2600.HK   ACH.N  
swung back to profitability in the first nine months, buoyed by 
higher metal prices and continued cost-cutting efforts, the 
company said on Thursday.  
    Chalco posted a net profit of 107.9 million yuan ($16.02 
million) in the January-September period, compared with a net 
loss of 974.6 million yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing 
to the Hong Kong stock exchange. 
    The gains came as the company, one of the world's top 
producers, benefited from the continued rise in aluminium prices 
 CMAL3 .  
    Prices rose 1.5 percent for their third straight quarterly 
rise, hitting one-year highs of $1,710 a tonne in August, as 
global capacity cuts helped erode excess output. 
    The improvement was also partly attributable to the recent 
sale of some assets. 
    The second-largest aluminium producer in China, Chalco 
accounts for just under a quarter of the country's alumina 
output and over 10 percent of its aluminium output. 
    The global market has been plagued by oversupply for the 
past five years, depressing prices and hurting producers' 
profits. 
    Aluminium smelters in China, the world's top producer and 
consumer of the metal, cut output late last year, reducing 
supply in the hope of supporting prices.  
 
($1 = 6.7360 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
 (Reporting by Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong and Josephine Mason in 
Beijing. Editing by David Evans) 
 
Keywords: CHALCO CHINA/RESULTS