Aluminium production fell 9% in 2009 to 23.4 million tonnes, the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) said.

The fall in output was largely due to a 15% drop in production in Europe to 7.8 million tonnes and a 17.7% fall in North American output to 4.7 million tonnes, figures released by the IAI said.

Latin American production also fell marginally in 2009 to 2.5 million tonnes from 2.6 million tonnes a year before.

Africa remained relatively stable at around 1.7 million tonnes, as did Australia at 2.2 million tonnes, according to the IAI.

Asia was the only region to buck the trend with a 13% increase in production to 4.4 million tonnes in 2009.

In 2008, world output of aluminium was 25.6 million metric tonnes, the institute said.