Electrolytic aluminum firms in China have been in an impasse due to overcapacity, along with high alumina price and lower electrolytic aluminum price, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Tuesday.

Statistics from NDRC show that China's 86 cited electrolytic aluminum firms witnessed a 61-percent drop in profit during the first 11 months of last year, among which 56 firms suffered a total loss of one billion yuan (123.5 million U.S. dollars).

China's overall production capacity of electrolytic aluminum now stands at 10.3 million tons, with a surplus of 2.6 million tons, said an official with the NDRC on a press briefing held here.

He said the problem of overcapacity has become eminent in recent years with added production from newly-completed projects in such sectors as steel, electrolytic aluminum, ferroalloy, coke, calcium carbide, and copper smelting.

The steel price, for example, had kept dropping since the second quarter of last year, which was ascribed to a surplus of production capacity over the demand, he added.

He warned that the potential problem of overcapacity also exist in sectors such as cement, electric power, coal, and textile, .

The Commission has pledged to go on stepping up the industrial restructuring and curbing the expansion of production capacities in some sectors this year.

It urged the removal of of those makers with outdated facilities, and called for merging and retooling of the enterprises to upgrade the industry through the concentration and improvement of their competitiveness.

Source: Xinhua