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CHINA is expected to import more than one million tonnes of aluminium by 2020, market analysts predict.

In an analysis focused on the long-term outlook of the metal, UK-based commodities consultancy firm CRU has forecast that Chinese imports of aluminium will reach 1.4 million tonnes in the next decade compared with 70,000 tonnes in 2010, Britain's Financial Times newspaper reports.

"In the next decade we predict China will not be able to keep pace with its demand growth," the CRU report said.

"The task will then fall to producers in the world ex-China to meet the supply shortfall."

The country is the world's greatest producer and consumer of aluminium, accounting for some 40 per cent of the global market, however China's future association with the metal is unknown as rising prices for energy, labour and raw materials make the commodity less competitive, the FT reported.


Today's Herald Sun.