JINAN - A leading aluminum producer in East China's Shandong province started supplying aero plates to Boeing, becoming the first Chinese aluminum firm to the global aerospace giant.

Shandong Nanshan Aluminum Co Ltd, the largest aluminum plate supplier in the Asia Pacific, delivered its first batch of aero plates to Boeing on Tuesday.

The two sides signed a supply agreement in October last year. Then the Chinese manufacturer passed a series of qualification audits for different products and became an official supplier in late June.

The delivery of the aero plates marked a breakthrough for the company in moving up the aluminum industrial value chain, amid the country's manufacturing upgrading drive, according to Liu Chunlei, its deputy general manager.

The company, located in Chinese aluminum hub Longkou county, boasts an annual capacity of about 100,000 tons of high-end aluminum alloy plates and 250,000 tons of advanced aluminum coils and sheets.