CS Aluminium plans to raise production in 2010

Reuters reported that Taiwan's biggest flat rolled aluminum products mill CS Aluminum plans to raise production in 2010 due to increased orders mainly from Asia in the H2 of 2009. A top executive said that "We are cautiously optimistic for 2010. We hope our output 2010 will be above this year's 120,000 tonnes. He said that the mill was operating nearly at full speed again after falling to 40% in the Q1 and 70% in the Q2 as a result of the financial crisis. The executive said that CS Aluminum is capable of making 180,000 tonnes of flat rolled products such as sheets, coils and foils for food packaging, transportation and the machinery sector annually. He said that the market was not good in the Q1. Demand started picking up from the Q2. He added that orders from buyers in Asia had increased but those from the US and Europe remained low. The bulk of those orders were under spot contracts with shorter delivery requirements. The financial crisis has prompted buyers to hold low stocks of product and place ad hoc orders with the Taiwanese mill. The executive said that "We used to do mostly term orders. Now, such orders have fallen a lot.” CS Aluminum, a subsidiary of Taiwan's China Steel, expects global aluminum supply and demand to be in balance 2010 or a marginal surplus if Chinese smelters restart all their idle capacity and fire up new capacity. The executive said that smelters in China could increase production if domestic aluminum prices stay at CNY 14,000 per tonne to CNY 15,000 per tonne. He said that oil prices CLc1 LCOc1 remain a key factor for global prices of the energy intensive metal 2010. (Sourced from Reuters)