BEIJING, May 17 (Reuters) - China's primary aluminium production climbed 7.2% to 3.58 million metric tons in April from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

For the first four months of the year, China produced 14.24 million metric tons of aluminium, up 7.1% from a year earlier, the data showed.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Beijing newsroom, writing by Emily Chow)