ALUMINIUM-Major market developments in April

LONDON, May 7 - Aluminium producers need to curb still more output to halt the rise in inventories, analysts say. "The aluminium market is very vulnerable, inventories are still rising quite sharply suggesting that the market is still in over-supply and making it a candidate for more output cuts," said Calyon analyst Robin Bhar. Independent consultant Angus MacMillan said there was talk of more production curbs in North America, but added they would not be enough to return the market to balance, especially with top producer China restarting idled capacity. Will Adams of Basemetals.com said withdrawals of metal out of London Metal Exchange warehouses amid the overall uptrend looked set to slow. He expected the whole base metals complex to run out of steam soon, with aluminium prices possibly back down to the $1,350-1,400 area by the end of May. At 1134 GMT the LME three-months price was indicated at $1,583/93 a tonne. Below are some of the more significant recent developments in production, stocks and prices that may influence the direction of the market in 2009. PRODUCTION: April 30 - Hydro Aluminium, the German unit of Norsk Hydro said it may stop production at its loss-making aluminium smelter at Neuss in Germany in June if talks to cut its power supply costs are unsuccessful. The company said in January it might close Neuss this summer because of high German power costs. [ID:nLU463023] April 29 - Alcoa Inc said it will cut production at its Portland aluminium smelter in Australia by another 38,000 tonnes. The reduction is in addition to a 15,000 tonne cut in December, bring total annual output down 15 percent to 305,000 tonnes. [ID:nSYD346990] April 24 - Century Aluminum Co said it may decide to close another potline at the Hawesville, Kentucky aluminium smelter soon. The company is currently operating four lines at the plant, having curtailed Line 5 in early March. [ID:nN24314619] April 24 - BHP Billiton said the viability of its Bayside aluminium smelter in South Africa was at risk following a sharp fall in demand for value-added products. Company said it had stopped supply contracts with some customers and was exploring options to restructure the plant to keep it running. [ID:nLO478187] April 23 - Primary aluminium output in China rose to 883,000 tonnes in March from 869,000 tonnes in February, provisional figures from the International Aluminium Institute showed. China's aluminium production in March 2008 was 1.044 million tonnes, the IAI said. [ID:nLN686793] April 22 - India's National Aluminium Co Ltd said it has restarted its bauxite mine after an attack by Maoist rebels the previous week frightened workers away. The mine has the capacity to produce 4.8 million tonnes per year of bauxite, which is supplied to the company's Damanjodi alumina refinery. [ID:nBOM496381] April 21 - UC RUSAL said it saved $554 million in the first quarter of 2009, half of its target for the year, by shedding 23 percent of its production costs and cutting output by 7 percent. The company said it planned to cut costs by a further 26 percent by the end of a year in which aluminium output will decline 11 percent and production of alumina will fall by more than a third. [ID:nLL637986] April 21 - Qatalum, a $5.6 billion smelter joint venture between Qatar and Norway's Norsk Hydro is expected to begin commisssioning in the fourth quarter and sell its first cargo by early next year, a Qatari official said. The plant will have an overall design capacity of about 585,000 tpy. [ID:nLL532308] April 20 - Daily average primary aluminium output fell to 65,200 tonnes in March from 66,200 tonnes in February, provisional figures from the IAI showed. [ID:nLK707295] April 17 - China produced 2,657,600 tonnes of primary aluminium in the first quarter of 2009, down 14.1 percent from the same period last year, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Output of alumina fell by 7.8 percent over the same period to 4,916,400 tonnes. April 16 - UC RUSAL has proposed re-launching the Boguchany and Taishet aluminium smelter projects in Siberia to provide an outlet for the major Boguchany hydro power station project it is building with RusHydro . Proceeding with the construction of the two plants would be a reversal of RUSAL's earlier decision to postpone the projects. [ID:nLG119691] April 12 - Guinea's ruling military junta said it planned to challenge in court the 2006 sale of the Friguia alumina refinery to UC RUSAL. The head of the junta has made a series of threats to mining firms with operations in the world's biggest bauxite producer, a trend analysts say is destabilising an already fraught business environment for miners. [ID:nLC253669]