BEIJING: China’s July aluminium output rose the most in a single month in more than two decades, with producers ramping up operations to benefit from a business that remains profitable even though prices of the metal declined recently.

The world’s biggest aluminium producer churned out 3.68 million metric tons of primary aluminium, 6% higher year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday.

That marks the highest monthly output since at least 2002. Daily output in July averaged at 118,710 tons, lower from 122,333 tons in June.

For the first seven months of the year, China produced 25.19 million tons of aluminium, up 6.7% from a year earlier, the data showed.

The yearly increases were attributed to new projects coming online in the northern region of Inner Mongolia in late second quarter, while smelters in other main producing regions maintained strong production thanks to a profitable market.

A rally in aluminium prices drove a surge in smelters’ profits in the first half of this year.

Average profit in the industry hit about 4,000 yuan ($558.78) per ton in June, the highest since the beginning of 2022, data by Beijing-based aluminium consultancy ALD showed.

“The better-than-expected profits prompted smelters to produce,” said Su Yanbo, an aluminium analyst at ALD.

The price rally was mainly driven by frenzied speculation, but the market then fell on profit taking and persistently weak demand in China.

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Profit for the metal used in construction and the transportation industries dropped back to above 2,000 yuan in July. Su expects industry profit to remain at a similar level and output to rise further over the coming months.

Production of 10 nonferrous metals, including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel, rose 8.2% to 6.56 million tonnes in July from a year earlier. Year-to-date output was up 7.3% at 45.55 million tonnes.

The other non-ferrous metals are tin, antimony, mercury, magnesium and titanium.