During the January-October period of this year, the global shortage in primary aluminum market was 1.434 million tons, with a deficit of 0.770 million tons for the full year of 2016. In the first 10 months of this year, the demand for primary aluminum was 50.22 million tons, an increase of 1.713 million tons over the same period of previous year. January-October primary aluminum production increased 947,000 tons. The total reportable inventories decreased by 30,000 tons, as of the end of October to 2,249,000 tons, equivalent to 14 days of demand, as of the end of 2016 to 2,761,000 tons. As of the end of October, the total stocks held by the four major exchanges in London, Shanghai, the United States and Tokyo were 1.488 million tons, a decrease of 477,000 tons from the level at the end of last year. Overall, global production in the first 10 months of the year increased by 2% year-on-year. China’s production is estimated at 27.23 million tonnes, which represents 56% of global production. Apparent demand in China increased by 4% over the same period of last year. China exported 303,000 tonnes of net exports in the first ten months of October. Net unlisted aluminum exports in 2015 amounted to 255,000 tonnes. In the first 10 months of this year, China’s net export of semi-finished aluminum products was 3.194 million tons, up from 3.882 million tons in the same period of last year. Aluminum output in 28 EU countries remained flat year-on-year, while North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) output fell 2.1% YoY. Demand from the EU-28 increased by 113,000 tons year-on-year. January-October global demand rose 3.5%. In October 2017, the global production of primary aluminum was 4,763,500 tons, with a consumption of 4,799,100 tons.
