China’s primary aluminium production edged higher in May from the previous month, official data showed on Monday, as the launch of new smelting capacity and the incentive of higher prices lifted supply.

The world’s biggest producer and consumer of aluminium made 2.98 million tonnes of the metal last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was up 0.4% from 2.967 million tonnes in April but down 0.1% year-on-year.

January-May aluminium output was up 2.1% year-on-year at 14.81 million tonnes, the bureau said. (Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Tom Hogue)