China Dec copper output falls from Nov record

* China Dec copper off November record at 418,000 tonnes

* Aluminium, zinc output hits records

By Polly Yam

HONG KONG, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China's production of refined copper fell 0.6 percent in December from November's record, due to repairs at top producer Jiangxi Copper  .

Production of primary aluminium rose 1 percent on the month in December and hit a record for the third straight month.

Zinc output hit a record for the second straight month, rising to 462,000 tonnes in the world's top producer of most base metals, due to expanded capacity and sufficient supply of zinc concentrates.

China produced 418,000 tonnes of refined copper, down from November's 420,700 tonnes but up 28 percent from a year earlier, a table posted on the Shanghai Metals Market website (www.smm.cn) showed, citing figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

"China's monthly output should surpass 400,000 tonnes in coming months since the capacity is over 5 million tonnes, unless smelters do not have sufficient materials," said Zhu Yanzhong, analyst at Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper.

He added Jiangxi Copper's repairs had driven down China's output a bit.

Zhu said strong aluminium prices had encouraged aluminium smelters to produce more metal.

Production of primary aluminium rose to 1.37 million tonnes in December, up from November's 1.35 million as a result of smelters' restarts of idle capacity and startups of new capacity.

Lead production rose 11.6 percent to 374,000 tonnes in December, according to the website, after falling 3 percent in November.

But aluminium and lead smelters in Henan, the province that is the country's top producer of the two metals, face power shortages and production shutdowns, which could reduce production in January.

Power shortages have already forced some lead smelters in Henan to slow or shut production, the latest victim China’s power shortages.

Below is a table posted on the Shanghai Metals Market website (www.smm.cn), for output in December and 2009, in tonnes.

                 December    YoY pct         Jan-Dec     YoY pct

Copper        418,000       +28.1         4,252,000       +9.6

Lead            374,000      +15.2         3,871,000      +16.4

Zinc             462,000      +44.8         4,416,000      +11.6

Tin                 14,255      +61.2            135,836       +4.5

Nickel            21,271      +5.4              216,363      +15.8

Aluminium 1,369,000    +38.9        12,985,000     +1.0

Alumina   2,439,000     +38.0        23,826,000      +4.4

(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)