China's output of ten metals fall 4.3% in Jan-Feb: stats bureau

[HONG KONG] China's production of ten nonferrous metals in the first two months of 2016 fell 4.3 per cent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, in a delayed data release.

Output stood at 7.612 million tonnes. The production reversed a 5.8 per cent rise for the full year of 2015, the data showed.

The ten metals are copper, aluminium, zinc, lead, nickel, tin, antimony, titanium, magnesium and mercury. The data did not include the breakdown of each metal.

Production of alumina rose 2.3 per cent year-on-year to 9.015 million tonnes in January and February. The rise was smaller than 9.6 per cent for all of 2015.

Alumina is used for the production of primary aluminium.

Production of semi-finished aluminium products such as profiles and plates was 8.04 million tonnes in the first two months, up 12.7 per cent from a year earlier.

Semi-finished copper products output, including rods and tubes, rose 8.5 per cent from a year earlier to 2.414 million tonnes in January to February.

The bureau has delayed full data releases on China's oil product output and also some metals and ores production for the first two months of the year.

REUTERS