Yunnan Province, China enforces output curbs on aluminium smelters

Yunnan located in Southwest China has reportedly asked the local smelters to reduce the production of aluminium by 30 percent for the rest of the year to help them in meeting their goals of reducing greenhouse emissions and energy use.

Because of the abundant hydropower facility, Yunnan has turned out to be one of the most preferred locations for aluminium smelting projects and also other nonferrous metal refineries. In 2020, around 2.6 million tonnes of aluminium was added in Yunnan, making it up by 72 percent since the last year. Around 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium capacity was planned to put into operation this year.

By assigning to Yunnan and using their hydropower, the aluminium projects have become greener and the province is shifting from being the green power supplier to aluminium supplier. However due to the extra power usage, the local power supply in Yunnan suffered and also faced power cut in May.

According to Antaike, the state backed research house, around 1 million tonnes of power capacity were already shut down by Yunnan aluminium smelters in August. The restriction was due to the drought that hit Yunnan in May, resulting in disruptions of hydropower output there.

On Monday, the London aluminium prices surged up to $3,000 per tonne since 2008. Shanghai aluminium also experienced 5.1 percent growth.