China’s aluminum exports surged in May, according to official customs data released on Tuesday, as disruptions to shipment and production in the Gulf region due to the Iran war kept global supply tight.
China’s unwrought aluminum and product exports climbed 5.68% in May to 632,000 metric tons.
And in the first five months of 2026, unwrought aluminum and product exports surged 10.4% to 2.69 million tons, customs data showed.
May exports outstripped April’s already strong levels — the highest in at least a year — and extended gains since the war began.
The conflict damaged two of the largest aluminum facilities in the Gulf region, which accounts for 8% of the world’s output, and effectively shut the key Strait of Hormuz waterway.
Primary aluminum output in the Gulf region tumbled in April to its weakest in more than a decade at 330,000 tons, according to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI). It was down 35% from the same month in 2025.
Global primary output fell 2.1% year on year to 5.92 million tons, but estimated Chinese production rose 1.5% to 3.68 million tons, IAI said.
Elsewhere, China’s exports of aluminum stranded wire – included in a separate customs category from unwrought aluminum and aluminum products – jumped in April. Traders have been looking to repurpose this product, normally used in power transmission and distribution, to export aluminum after the rally and tax gap opened an arbitrage window.
(By Dylan Duan and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Shri Navaratnam)
