Asian Metal visits Huajin Aluminum, Huafei Chemical Industry and Chalco Guizhou Branch

On the morning of March 6, Ms. Bell Feng, analyst of Asian Metal, visited Zunyi Aluminum Co., Ltd. and exchanged opinions on the current electrolytic aluminum market in China with Mr. Zhai Xiangdong, manager of the company.

With a design capacity of 410,000tpy of electrolytic aluminum, their plant runs at a capacity of 260,000tpy and plans to commence the electrolytic aluminum project with an annual capacity of 150,000t in May. At present, it is hard to source anode, and thus their plant intends to build a new carbon plant. Mr. Zhai predicted that aluminum ingot prices are likely to reach RMB15,000/t in 2017, but are hard to stay at high levels for a long time.

In the afternoon, Ms. Bell Feng visited Chalco Zunyi Alumina Co., Ltd. and talked about the alumina market in Zunyi with Zhou Nan and Zhong Weiming of the company. Alumina plants in Zunyi, which have reached the environmental requirements and are supervised online, will not reduce or stop production despite the environmental inspection. In addition, most plants here have no stock pressure.

In the afternoon, Ms. Bell Feng also visited Zunyi Yulong Aluminum Co., Ltd. and exchanged views on the alumina and electrolytic aluminum markets with Xiao Yun and Wang Shijun of the company. Affected by the misjudgment before the Spring Festival, Galuminium Group lowers prices to stimulate sales under rising inventory pressure at the moment, dragging down alumina prices in Guizhou. Their purchase prices for alumina stood at around RMB2,900/t delivered to the plant.

On the afternoon of March 7, Ms. Bell Feng visited Chalco Guizhou Branch and talked about the current electrolytic aluminum market with Mr. Cao Bin. Huanren Aluminum, the capacity replacement project of the company, plans to put the first batch of 100 electrolytic cells into production on August 20. Furthermore, they haven’t decided the specific time for the closure of the old electrolytic aluminum plant in Baiyun district.

In the afternoon, Ms. Bell Feng visited Guizhou Huajin Aluminum Co., Ltd. and exchanged opinions on the current alumina market with Mr. Guo Wei and Li Weihai of the company. With a design capacity of 3.2 million tons, their plant hasn’t decided the specific time for the construction of the remaining project with an annual capacity of 1.6 million tons. They predicted that the average alumina price for the whole year will be RMB2,500/t in Guizhou.

On the morning of March 8, Ms. Bell Feng visited Guizhou Huafei Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. and talked about the alumina market with Mr. Mei Tingjin of the company. Currently, the total production cost of alumina hovers around RMB2,000/t in Guizhou and alumina plants are expected to make profits during 2017.