Metals output restrictions in China meeting resistance

Government inspectors in China have reportedly found that several metals producers are not limiting their output in late 2017 as they had earlier been asked to do.

An online article from Hellenic Shipping News, citing Platts as its source, singles out producers of aluminum and steel that “have not limited output or shut to comply with the government’s winter emissions cuts,” which have been scheduled to run from November 2017 through March 2018.

The article cites China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) as singling out Taiyuan East Aluminum in Shanxi Province as one firm that was asked to shut 44 of its furnaces during the winter, “but inspectors on a spot check found that it just shut 14 furnaces,” according to the MEP.

On the steelmaking side, Henan Chengxi Steel Structure in Henan Province was conducting operations it had been earlier instructed to shut down during the winter.

State-run metals consultancy Beijing Antaike has forecast China’s national aluminum production growth rate to slow in 2018, although output could still rise by 5.6 percent. Refined aluminum output in 2017 is expected to close the year having increased by 10.3 percent compared with 2016, according to Platts.