China’s aluminium capital Binzhou plans new ‘high-end’ projects

BEIJING, Sept 4 (Reuters) – The city of Binzhou in eastern China’s Shandong province, home to top aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group, is planning five new projects to support development of a high-end aluminium industry, according to a local government document.

The projects include a 10,000 tonne-per-year (tpy) aluminium alloy plant to be built by Huachuang Metal, according to the document dated Aug. 30 on the Binzhou city government website.

A second aluminium alloy project, with unspecified capacity, is to be built by Hangqiao Technology to target the automotive and aerospace industries. A third, built by Yangxin Taihe New Material, will make aluminium formwork used in construction.

The document calls for public feedback on the plans to be submitted by Sept. 5.

The move towards added-value products in Binzhou comes amid increased competition in the aluminium sector from other parts of China, where new smelters are pushing the country’s output to record levels.

The southern autonomous region of Guangxi, which has an abundance of aluminium raw material alumina, last month unveiled a plan to establish its own high-end aluminium production base in Nanning.

Another project planned by Binzhou is a plant that will make 1.88 million tonnes per year of carbon materials for the aluminium sector, according to the government document.

Carbon anodes are used to conduct electricity in the aluminium smelting process.

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Tom Hogue)