No new aluminium production in China’s West, suggests Environment Ministry

On Tuesday, October 27, China’s environment ministry said no new aluminium production would be encouraged in the country’s sprawling western region, which occupies more than half the country’s total land area, including the Xinjiang region. Aluminium smelters in China have been increasingly building plants in western parts of the country, particularly in Yunnan, owing to its rich source of cleaner hydropower. Ministry gave the same suggestion for coke as well.

In response to a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) document released in August on “encouraged industries” for China’s West, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said aluminium and coke be excluded from the list.

“Coking and electrolytic aluminium are high-polluting and high-energy consuming industries and they have overcapacity across the country,” the environment ministry said. “They should not be included in the catalogue of encouraged industries in the western region.”

China’s West already became a prime hub for aluminium smelters for lower costs and less stringent environmental requirements than in the east, which includes Tibet, Inner Mongolia and several other provinces.

The environment ministry also suggested that the NDRC document encouraging aluminium smelters to move to Inner Mongolia, provided they have replacement capacity quotas, should also be deleted.