UPDATE 2-China May aluminium output surges 7% to highest in nearly a decade

* May aluminium output up 7.2% to highest since at least Nov 2014 * Global aluminium prices hit about 2-year highs in May * Aluminium sees robust demand from solar, EV, construction demand weak * Output to rise further amid better power supply in Yunnan (Adds bullets, details and analyst comments) BEIJING, June 17 (Reuters) - China's production of primary aluminium rose 7.2% in May to its highest in almost a decade, boosted by strong growth prospects for the solar and electric vehicle sector. The world's biggest aluminium producer churned out 3.65 million metric tons of primary aluminium, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. That was the most for a single month since at least November 2014, Reuters data show. Average daily output in May was 117,742 tons, down from 119,333 tons in April, according to Reuters calculations based on the data. Market participants said signs that robust demand will continue have helped drive speculative buying of aluminium futures, which rose to about two-year highs last month. The benchmark aluminium contract on the London Metal Exchange CMAL3 gained in May for a fourth consecutive month, hitting $2,700 per ton late in the month, a level not seen since June 2022. The most-traded aluminium contract SAFcv1 on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed to a high of more than two years to about 22,000 yuan ($3,032.43) per ton. Higher prices offset increased production costs caused by a surge in alumina, a key raw material. Research house Antaike estimated the industry averaged a profit of 3,550 yuan per ton, 79% higher than a year earlier and little changed from the prior month. Production is set to rise further with a total of 400,000 tons of production capacity to start operations in the southwestern Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou as well as Inner Mongolia in the country's north, said Su Yanbo, an aluminium analyst at Beijing-based consultancy ALD. Thanks to more rainfall in Yunnan, producers are ramping up aluminium production with better hydropower supply, Su added. With nearly 6 million tons annual capacity, Yunnan is one of China's main producing region but has had to curb its output as a result of unusually low rainfalls. In the first five months of the year, China produced 17.89 million tons of aluminium, a rise of 7.1% from the same period last year, the data showed. Production of 10 nonferrous metals - including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel – rose 7.4% to 6.61 million tons from a year earlier. Year-to-date output was up 6.9% at 32.42 million tons. The other non-ferrous metals are tin, antimony, mercury, magnesium and titanium. ($1=7.2549 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Siyi Liu and Colleen Howe; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Lincoln Feast.) (([email protected];))