Aluminum Corp of China, the country's
largest nonferrous metals company, announced its best half-year performance in
nine years, riding a surge in commodity prices.
Also known as Chinalco, the company
said in its interim report for 2017, which was released late on Thursday, that
first-half revenue reached 91.31 billion yuan ($13.68 billion), up 83 percent
year-on-year, which yielded a profit of 751 million yuan, up 1,006 percent year-on-year.
A surge in sales volume as well as
prices, particularly of its main products, boosted the first-half revenue and
profit, Chinalco said.
Aluminum prices have been on a rebound since last year, and continued to be
strong in the first half of this year.
For instance, the average aluminum
price on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 16670 yuan per metric ton in the
first half, up almost 45 percent year-on-year.
"Since April last year, the
aluminum sector has been making profits," said Li Lin, an analyst at
Sublime China Information Group in Zibo, Shandong province, adding that the
average profit reached last year's highest level of 2,000 yuan per ton in
October.
In April, regulators such as the
National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner,
announced that illegal projects, which increased overall industry capacity
since May 2013, would be asked to close down.
Within six months, the electrolytic aluminum sector saw such projects
eliminated, which kicked off the capacity cutbacks.
Shandong, the largest aluminum
producing province in China, said on July 24 it would close projects that used
to produce 3.21 million tons of the metal, following similar measures by
several other provinces.
In 2014, Chinalco reported a deficit
of 16.2 billion yuan, losing the most among the listed companies in A-share
market.
However, in 2015, the company began
to make profits. It made 206 million yuan in 2015. In the fourth quarter of
last year alone, Chinalco realized an operating profit for the first time in
five years.
The latest interim report confirms
that Chinalco has made a profit in three consecutive quarters.
