China’s Aluminum Output Hits Record While Steel Sinks

Chinese aluminum output rose to an all-time high last year, climbing to around the country’s capacity limit, while steel fell to a seven-year low, underscoring dramatically different prospects for the two most widely used metals.

Aluminum production increased 2.4% to to 45.02 million tons, having risen every year this decade, according to the statistics bureau on Monday. The figure for December was a record 3.87 million tons. Annual steel output declined 4.4% to 961 million tons, falling below the 1 billion mark for the first time since 2019, with December at a two-year low of 68.2 million tons.