An Analysis of the Difficulties of Aluminum Industry Development in China in 2013

“For Yang Aluminum prospects, it is now awkward to say nothing about development.” On Jan. 4, Liu Jian (a pseudonym) employee of Yangluo stated.

In fact, taking a look at the domestic aluminum industry, although other companies have not yet reached such an embarrassing position for Yangluo, the cost pressure and the drop in market prices have been squeezing the living space of the companies within the industry.

On January 7, Analyst Li Xun said in an interview with reporters that due to the persistently low level of aluminum prices, starting in November 2012, some aluminum smelters in Guangxi and Yunnan could not continue their normal operations and began to reduce production. , stop production measures.

Even China Aluminum Corporation, the leading domestic aluminum product leading company, suffered from a dismal operation. Its loss in the first three quarters of last year exceeded RMB 4.3 billion.

Electricity consumption and alumina are one of the two major costs of electrolytic aluminum. The former accounts for more than half of the total cost. Even companies that have their own power plants account for 40% of the total cost of electricity. The monitoring data of mine non-ferrous metals show that the absolute price index of aluminum was 15091 yuan per ton last year, which was lower than the 1,6031.2 yuan per ton in 2011, a decrease of 5.87%. “The price of alumina as raw material for production is fluctuating with electrolytic aluminum. The cost of this can be offset, but the domestic electricity price is fixed,” said Li Xun.

In the past year or two, the domestic electrolytic aluminum production capacity has mainly been put into Xinjiang and other northwestern regions, because the electricity costs there are relatively low. The problem is that electricity prices in the Northwest have indeed been preferential, but the transport costs and the difficulties of the transport cycle have been highlighted this year.

Li Xun said that the new project is now basically to grasp the energy, because "in the case of no guarantee of electricity prices, even if the company to do an extension of the industry chain, it is also severe."

On January 5th, Lu Yi, head of the Yangquan City SASAC Office, told the reporter that under current circumstances, aluminum companies must form an industrial chain. “We need not only bauxite resources, but also alumina and electrolytic aluminum. There must also be aluminum profiles, as well as a captive power plant, and a set of systems that can form an industrial chain to maintain a non-losing state."