China's aluminium demand is expected to grow at an average annual clip of around 8 percent over the next five years, underpinned by a rapid expansion of its auto sector that will use more of the lightweight metal to boost fuel efficiency, Novelis Inc said on Wednesday.
To get closer to its top customer, the aluminium products maker is building a $100 million aluminium rolling facility in China which will cater to the local auto industry, where the firm already has a list of clients including Audi, BMW and General Motors.
"Globally aluminium demand continues to increase and most of the increase is and will be in China," Novelis Chief Executive Phil Martens said in an interview, adding that the firm's forecast range for China's consumption growth was between 7-10 percent per year.
In 2011, global primary aluminium use grew by 10 percent. Consumption increased by 15 percent in China and by 10 percent in Asia excluding China last year. Owned by India's HindalCo Industries Ltd, Novelis is the world's largest producer of rolled aluminium products, used in everything from cans to consumer electronics to body structures for luxury autos.
Novelis sees global aluminium demand growing between 4-5 percent annually over the next five years, with consumption in the global automotive sector expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 25 percent over the next five years. Its forecasts are more conservative than rival producer Alcoa Inc, which on Wednesday lowered its outlook for China's aluminium consumption growth by one percentage point to 11 percent in 2012, with global demand growing 7 percent.
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