In view of the tight supply of hydropower in Yunan after the Chinese New Year holiday, it seems highly likely that a new round of power rationing will be introduced to restrict aluminium production, and some local aluminium smelters are already slated to shut down their electrolytic cells.
In fact, the power rationing rumours did not come as a surprise for aluminium smelters. Many of them had designed measures to save energy consumption in advance, but the official notice on power rationing is yet to be released.
It is alleged that a new round of power rationing in Yunnan will start from February 13 to 15, and aluminium enterprises will have to cut their their capacity by about 650,000 mt/year at first, before cutting more depending on the water level.
Qiya Aluminum Co., Ltd. started to halt its production since February 11, affecting its annual capacity of about 55,000 mt.
As of press time, no specific notice on product cuts has been released.
