Chalco swings into red

China’s largest aluminium producer Chalco  said it swung into the red last year with a loss of 4.65 billion yuan (US$680 million) as the financial crisis took its toll. “In 2009, [Chalco] was hit by the global financial crisis, demand for aluminium plummeted and aluminium prices were low for a relatively long period of time,” the company said in a statement on the Shanghai stock exchange. “The firm’s production and operations suffered unprecedented difficulties and challenges,” it said in Saturday’s statement. The loss compared with a net profit of 9.2 million yuan in 2008, although this too was a significant drop from the previous year because of higher energy prices, falling demand and inventory devaluations as metal prices sank.