Zhongwang aluminium product plant at Tianjin to start commercial operation by the end of 2016

<p>Asia's largest aluminium extrusion product manufacturer, China Zhongwang Holdings reports that the first production line of its Tianjin plant will be operational by the end 2016. The strategy behind this plant is to leverage upon the growing lightweight automotive demand. The USD 4.79 billion project with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes aims to produce aluminium flat rolled products for the transportation and aerospace industries.<br /><br />Commenting on the project, Lu Changqing, Zhongwang executive director and president said, "In the future, we will upgrade from a supplier of aluminium products to a supplier of comprehensive lightweight solutions. The high-end products will account for 80 percent of our revenue in five to eight years."<br /><br />According to a report from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Chinese automakers consumed 3.12 million tons of aluminium alloy products last year which is up 3.2 per cent YOY. The forecast says China will consume about 14 million tons of the material by 2020, considering the faster growth they are achieving currently.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/china%20Zhongwang.jpg" alt="News" width="512" height="341" /><br /><br />"Aluminium alloy is one of the major choices to reduce auto weight, and, therefore, the consumption of gasoline," said Chen Quanxun, chief of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association.&nbsp; "We can expect such companies to benefit from the trend in the following decade," Chen added.<br /><br />Growing pressure to adhere to the energy-saving and emission-reducing measures is compelling automakers to work on lightweight materials and fuel saving potentials.<br /><br />In April, Chery JLR Automotive launched its new car that used 75 per cent aluminium alloy which is 40 per cent lighter than the previous models. Automotive majors like Ford, Audi and General Motors are also treading on the same path.<br /><br />It is a part of this strategy to cater to the automotive market that Zhongwang USA LLC announced the acquisition of Aleris, a US aluminium automotive body sheets maker.<br /><br />According to Zhongwang report, the new plant has passed through all the necessary quality certification processes needed for the automobile and aviation industry and is supplying samples to a number of automakers.</p>