Alcoa lowers alumina market surplus projection…

US producer Alcoa said it is now expecting the global alumina market to be in a range of balanced to one million tonne surplus this year. That represents a lowering of the surplus projection from an original estimate it would be in a 1-2 million tonne range this year. Speaking on the analysts call accompanying its Q2 07 financial results, Alcoa attributed the change in forecast to a combination of slower-than-expected ramp-up of brownfield expansions and higher-than-expected Chinese metal production. “The spot alumina market supports this change (of forecast) as recent prices have increased to the mid $300s per tonne”, said Alcoa chief executive Alain Belda. The company’s own alumina production increased by 4% to 3.799 million tonnes in Q2 2007 from 3.655 million in the first quarter of the year. Production and shipments are expected to hold steady in the third quarter.