China’s aluminum smelters’ output reached a record of 3.69 million tons in August, and the output was expected to hit the highest at 3.72 million tons in December.

Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) said China’s aluminum production is likely to rise by 3% year on year in the fourth quarter this year, reaching 11 million tons. Due to the sufficient power supply, smelters in Yunnan would avoid production cuts for the first time in four years.

Yunnan smelters, accounting for 12% of the total supply in China, have been impacted due to drought in recent years. However, due to the ample rainfall caused by the changing climate, hydropower generation surged by 22% in the first eight months of this year to 882 billion kilowatt hours, so the local government will not restrict power supply to aluminum smelters in winter and spring.

SMM analyst said China is close to its production capacity cap of 45 million tons, and output growth was expected to slow to 2% next year. China's output will increase by nearly 4% by the end of this year.