Aluminum giant reports losses in H1

The Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) on Saturday reported 3.25 billion yuan (513.39 million U.S. dollars) in losses for the first six months of the year.

The figure is in sharp contrast to the 413 million yuan profits during the same period last year, the company said in a report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The losses were incurred by falling market prices, rising costs of raw materials, and higher financial expenses caused by interest rate hikes, said Chalco, a listed arm of the Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), the country's top producer of aluminum.

Its financial expenses surged 51.4 percent year on year to 2.3 billion yuan in the first six months.

Meanwhile, Chalco's revenues went up 8.7 percent from a year earlier to reach 71.7 billion yuan in the first six months of the year, while it saw a loss of 0.24 yuan per share.