* Feb copper output up 4.1 pct after Jan's 17.6 pct fall
* Monthly aluminium, zinc output off Dec's records
* Daily output for most base metals up in Feb
By Polly Yam
HONG KONG, March 11 (Reuters) - China's output of refined copper and primary aluminium rose 4.1 percent and 3.6 percent respectively in February from a month ago though analysts noted the data showed some weakness compared to December last year.
China, the world's top consumer of most base metals and the biggest producer of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin, produced 358,000 tonnes of refined copper in February versus 344,000 tonnes in January, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed, which published the two months figures on Thursday.
The gain in a short month follows a 17.6 copper output fall in January from a month ago caused by repairs that took some smelters out of action.
In the first two months, output of refined copper rose 16.2 percent on the year.
Daily refined copper output in February was about 12,786 tonnes, up from January's 11,097 tonnes but lower than 13,468 tonnes in December.
"Smelters' repairs and the Lunar New Year holiday caused lower production in January and February," Yang Changhua, copper analyst at state-backed research group Antaike, said, adding operations had slowed around the holiday because some workers were away.
But February refined copper output was lower than Antaike's estimate of 370,000-380,000 tonnes, Yang said. "Output in March should resume to 380,00-390,000 tonnes."
ALUMINIUM SEASONALLY ADJUSTMENTS?
Monthly primary aluminium output was 1.31 million tonnes in February versus 1.26 million tonnes in January, which was 7.8 percent lower than December's record of 1.37 million tonnes.
In the first two months, aluminium output rose 45.6 percent on the year to 2.57 million tonnes.
Daily aluminium output in February rose to about 46,714 tonnes versus 40,710 tonnes in January and 44,148 tonnes in December.
But not everyone agrees with the daily rise.
"February had the holiday. It is almost impossible the actual output rose from January given there was no new capacity to start production and power supply did not improve," a manager at a large aluminium smelter said.
"From our observation, data in December to February was often not normal," he said, who saw February output flat after January's fall and March's output reaching 1.35 million tonnes on startups of new capacity.
He said many aluminium smelters adjusted December and January figures to match their yearly output targets and the holiday made data collection difficult to authorities in February.
Output of refined zinc dropped 3.5 percent on the month to 363,000 tonnes in February from January's 376,000 tonnes, which was 18.6 percent off from December's all-time record of 461,700 tonnes.
"It's mainly due to price falls in January, which has caused production cuts to smelters," a trading official at top zinc producer Zhuzhou Smelter said, adding smaller zinc smelters had also reduced operations during the holiday last month.
He said reduced supply of zinc concentrate from northern mines in the winter was affecting smaller smelters because of their low concentrate stocks.
Price-driven recycle lead producers had cut production due to weaker prices , said the official at Zhuzhou, also a primary lead producer.
Below is a table of daily output in December-February, calculated by Reuters.
Dec (31 days) Jan(31 days) Feb(28 days)
Copper 13,468 11,097 12,786
Aluminium 44,148 40,710 46,714
Zinc 14,894 12,129 12,964
Lead 12,074 9,161 8,500
Nickel 686 466 489
Tin 460 341 348
To see graphics for copper and aluminium output click:
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