China Minmetals sees aluminium output slowing down next year

China's aluminium output would jump by a fifth to 6.6 million tons in 2004 but slow in 2005, a senior Minmetals executive said Tuesday, as credit curbs bite into booming demand from the construction and appliances sectors.

Wang Lixin, vice president of China Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Co. Ltd. - the nation's largest trader of nonferrous metals - will forge ahead as planned with an estimated US$5 billion bid for Canada's Noranda Inc. "It's going forward as planned," Wang told reporters in an interview, declining to elaborate.

The market expects State-run Minmetals to soon formalize a preliminary takeover offer made on Sept. 24 for Noranda - the world's third-largest zinc maker and ninth-largest copper producer.

Aluminium output was expected to stay flat or rise marginally in 2005, after the government stepped in to cool the economy, Wang said.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies