Financial Services Association, September 10 (Reporter Liang Xiangcai) At the performance briefing held today, Ge Xiaolei, financial director and director of China Aluminum (601600.SH), made a more optimistic forecast about the future market of the company's two major products, electrolytic aluminum and alumina.

On the alumina side, Ge Xiaolei said that in the second half of the year, bauxite resources became scarce and normalized, and most companies guaranteed production orders. Under a tight balance between supply and demand, alumina prices are expected to continue to operate at a high level.

Regarding the reason for the increase in alumina prices in the first half of the year, Ge Xiaolei said that it was mainly due to the shortage of domestic bauxite resources and the tightening of alumina supply, while downstream electrolytic aluminum plants in Yunnan stopped production capacity and continued to resume production. Demand for alumina increased, and phased weak supply and demand were strong, boosting the rise in alumina prices.

Regarding electrolytic aluminum, Ge Xiaolei said that from a macro perspective, the global economy is expected to maintain a moderate recovery trend in the second half of the year. The market generally believes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September to provide a relaxed macro environment for rising commodity prices. Looking at supply and demand, the growth rate of supply and demand will slow down in the second half of the year. The tight balance pattern will remain unchanged. The operating rate in the third quarter will be slightly higher than in the second quarter. Due to the dry water period in the fourth quarter, electrolytic aluminum companies in the southwest region still face the risk of production cuts. Looking at the import side, starting around mid-April, LME aluminum prices have risen sharply due to factors such as sanctions from Europe and the US and the slow recovery of overseas production. Coupled with the continuous increase in exchange rates, the import trade of electrolytic aluminum has been affected. It is expected that China's electrolytic aluminum imports will drop to a certain extent in the second half of the year. Overall, it is expected that domestic aluminum prices will continue to fluctuate at a high level in the second half of the year.

Financial reports show that in the first half of the year, China Aluminum achieved operating income of 110.718 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.41%. Net profit for the same period was 7.016 billion yuan, an increase of 105.36% over the same period.

Regarding the reason for “revenue reduction and profit increase” in the first half of the year, Ge Xiaolei explained that the decline in the company's revenue in the first half of the year was mainly due to a decline in trade volume; the increase in profit was mainly due to the main products alumina and electrolytic aluminum achieving high production, while the prices of alumina and electrolytic aluminum remained high, and gross margin increased.

It is worth mentioning that the change of head of the Chinese aluminum industry has completed the industrial and commercial changes. According to Tianyan investigation, China Aluminum recently underwent commercial and commercial changes. Tung Chee-hung stepped down as legal representative and chairman, and Shi Zhirong took over.

According to the announcement, Dong Jianxiong served as the chairman of China Aluminum from September 2023 to June 2024, and served for less than a year; his last chairman, Liu Jianping, did not serve long. From June 2021 to July 2023, he served for 2 years and 1 month.

In response, when some investors asked at the meeting whether the frequent change of the chairman of the company in recent years would affect the stability of the company's long-term business plan, Ge Xiaolei said that the change of the company's chairman is a normal personnel change for the company. The company has formulated the “14th Five-Year Plan” development plan according to the corporate vision and carried out a mid-term evaluation based on implementation. Currently, it is preparing to formulate the “15th Five-Year Plan” development plan to ensure the stable operation of the company's long-term operations.

This evening, China Aluminum announced that Zhu Runzhou, the company's executive director and general manager, has retired due to his advanced age, and will add additional directors and appoint a new general manager as soon as possible.