Aluminium prices hit a record after China’s top 20 aluminium smelters announced plans to cut production by as much as 10 per cent from this month because of increasingly serious power supply problems across the country.

The benchmark three-month LME contract rose 5.8 per cent to a record $3,375 a tonne, up 40 per cent this year, making aluminium the best performing base metal in 2008.