Group items tagged

"In my personal opinion, most plants are unlikely to actually cut back because of profit factors. The smelters agreed to cut back mainly because of tight power and high power costs, but for some, supply is not much affected, only costs have gone up. But the cost of shutting down and restarting might be even higher than the increased power prices," a source from Shaanxi Tongchuan aluminum said July 11. A source from Chuangyuan aluminum said, "We also signed the agreement, but that's just a piece of paper; there is no definite ruling to say we must cut output. We have no plans to cut output at the moment or in the short term, but we may consider cutting back in the future." The Chuangyuan source also cited the power versus shutdown cost ratioand noted that in any case the company has its own power plant. "We don't expect many of the other smelters at the meeting to cut either, including Chalco ... everyone will wait and see," he said. "Domestic prices have risen slightly, but mainly affected by the rise on the LME yesterday - there seems to be little fundamental impact within China itself," an analyst from Beijing Antaike said July 11. "People are all very uncertain and maybe confused now since there are no definite details on what the cutbacks will be." A Chinese trader said domestic demand and trade activity were also expected to slow due to the Olympics, and those plants that actually shut may be able to restart in the fourth quarter, so the impact on domestic prices would be minimal.

The Chinese Henan Province has announced that it plans to invest in key regional projects. According to the plans, nine projects are related to the non-ferrous metals industry, two of which are copper semis plants. The first is a high precision electronic copper sheet and coil project of Chalco Luoyang Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 100,000 t. The second is a copper sheet and coil project of Henan Sanfeng Copper Co., Ltd. with annual capacity of 50,000 t.

On August 19th, Chinalco began work on its 300 ktpa copper semis facility in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The company's three existing processing sites, Chinalco Luoyang Copper, Chinalco Shanghai Copper and Chinalco Daye Copper Sheet & Strip, account for around 28% of China's total copper sheet and strip capacity, with a combined total of 130 ktpa, and 220 ktpa of expansions under construction. The new facility, with total investment of RMB2 billion, will comprise a 100 ktpa sheet and strip facility and a 200 ktpa wire and rod facility.