China aluminium products exports fired up by LME surge

* China fabricators keen to export aluminium semis on prices * Export orders rise 30 percent, fabricator says * Rising exports to ease domestic surplus By Polly Yam HONG KONG, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The surging price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange is spurring China's fabricators to boost exports of semi-finished aluminium products such as plates, traders and fabricators said on Wednesday. Higher exports from China, the world's top consumer and producer of the silvery metal, could shift part of the country's aluminium surplus to international markets. "Our export orders have risen 30 percent from the first half," said a trader at Mingtai Aluminium, which produces aluminium plates and strips. "Aluminium prices are expected to rise further, which is encouraging overseas merchants to stock up products." Aluminium prices on the LME and Shanghai have risen more than 25 percent this year. But exports of many alloyed aluminium products are subject to tax rebates of 13 percent, fattening margins to exporters, traders said. Chinese exporters were also increasing offers for plates, sheets and strips made of primary aluminium, which are also entitled to the rebate. This compares with an export tax of 15 percent on outflows of unwrought primary aluminium. Exporters prefer fixed prices for the products and require overseas buyers to take offered shipments within one month, one trader at an international trading house said. "Exporting products are profitable now," a smelter source said. "Higher product exports will cut the domestic surplus." About 700,000 tonnes of primary aluminium, two-thirds of China's monthly production, may be stored in public and private warehouses following record imports and increased domestic production in the past few months, industry sources estimate. [ID:nHKG183163] Demand for Chinese unwrought aluminium alloy is also rising on buying from car makers in Japan, the United States and Europe, traders and fabricators said. [ID:nHKG146479] Official data showed that China's monthly exports of semi-finished aluminium products rose 20 percent in June to a 6-month high of 120,000 tonnes. July's exports are expected to rise more than 8 percent on the month. Exports of unwrought aluminium alloy doubled to 19,310 tonnes in June from May after April's record low. July's exports may rise above 28,000 tonnes. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)