METALS-Aluminium slides on strong dollar

(Updates with official prices)

By Polina Devitt

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices slipped on Wednesday under pressure from a stronger dollar and completed production cuts in China's major producing provinces.

Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was down 0.6% at $2,335.0 a tonne in official rings.

The stronger dollar added to pressure on metals priced in the currency by making them more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.

Aluminium has been "driven by a combination of strong dollar moves and an improved supply view from China after Yunnan smelters were said to have satisfied the necessary output cuts to comply with power rationing requirements," said Daria Efanova, research associate at Sucden Financial.

"With the market entering a traditionally high output season, we will start paying close attention to operating rates in the region in the coming weeks," she added.

Prices for other industrial metals were mixed after hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and expectations of healthy demand from top consumer China.

Powell on Tuesday said the U.S. central bank is likely to increase interest rates more than anticipated to tame inflation.

LME three-month copper rose by 0.7% to $8,824 a tonne, zinc added 0.6% to $2,971, lead was flat at $2,088, while tin fell 2.4% to $23,600 and nickel lost 2.1% to $23,650.

"The lower prices bring buy-in opportunity, while we are still holding a cautiously optimistic view of China's demand," a Shanghai-based futures trader said.

The most traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended the day 1% lower at 68,880 yuan ($9,888.17) a tonne.

For the top stories in metals and other news, click or (Reporting by Polina Devitt; additional reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jason Neely)