Baise’s Easing of Pandemic Control Improves Aluminium Output

SHANGHAI, Feb 15 (SMM) - SMM is informed that the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control team in Baise issued the Notice on Orderly Removing Community Control on February 14th, 2022. The notice shows that:

1. From midnight on February 15th, control measures of “no entry and no exit” will be lifted. The high-speed railway, motorway and airline will return to normal, and the passenger transport in highway and waterway will also resume. In principle, the general public is not advised to leave the city unless it is necessary. In such cases, he or she has to report to the township (town) and street where he or she is in, and a negative NAT certificate within 48 hours is a must.

2. Places with no positive COVID cases and the 6 counties that have been under control for 7 days and reported no confirmed cases after 3 rounds of regional NAT tests, will be released from control and returned to normal prevention and control.

3. Four counties (cities and districts) where there are positive infections but have been under control for 7 days and reported no confirmed cases after 3 rounds of regional NAT tests will be released from control and returned to normal prevention and control, except for the closed-control areas, general control areas and preventative control areas.

4. Debao and Jingxi will keep the existing control measures. The specific time to be released from the current pandemic prevention and control will be determined according to evolvement of local COIVD.

SMM Analysis:

SMM holds the view that the orderly lifting of community control in Baise and the normal transportation will improve raw material transportation of local aluminium smelters and alumina refineries, which will guarantee the local operating capacity of aluminium and alumina.