By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-31 09:44

Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the country's largest aluminum producer, yesterday posted net profit of 8.4 billion yuan (US$1.12 billion) for the first nine months.

But the company said its profit margin dropped from 28.1 to 23.7 percent at the end of the second quarter as aluminum product prices fell.

Year-earlier figures were unavailable because the company began posting quarterly profits this year.

Analysts said declining prices of aluminum products on the domestic market and growing processing costs have combined to shrink profit margins.

The average spot price of aluminum ingots, a major product processed by Chalco, dropped 600 yuan, or 3.2 percent, from the second quarter to 18,000 yuan per ton.

The aluminum product price slump has also been reflected in falling futures prices. The most actively traded aluminum futures contracts for delivery in January 2008 on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped an aggregate 1,190 yuan, or 6.5 percent, since late July to close at 18,270 yuan per ton yesterday.

In addition to falling sale prices of aluminum products, processing costs - including for bauxite ore, coal and electricity - have risen sharply, further squeezing profitability in the past few months.

Much of the added cost has to be absorbed by the company as exports of aluminum products slow due to the increase in export duties.

"The decline in exports coupled with the increase in production capacity have combined to drive down the profitability of all Chinese aluminum producers," said Yang Baofeng, an analyst at Orient Securities.

China's aluminum product exports from June to September dropped 46 percent from the previous year to 117,000 tons, according to the latest figures.

Meanwhile, China's output of aluminum products in the first nine months surged 34.2 percent year-on-year.

Analysts said the downward trend in spot prices of aluminum products would continue in the fourth quarter, which will add pressure to the profit growth of aluminum producers.

Chalco's A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 4.04 percent yesterday to close at 50.01 yuan, while its H shares on the Hong Kong bourse shed 0.87 percent to close at 22.75 yuan.