China's Henan to Transfer More Aluminium Capacity Out of the Province

BEIJING, Sept 21 (Reuters) - China’s Henan province has announced that aluminium capacity from three smelters that have shut down would be available for transfer to other regions in the country.

The Commission of Industry and Information Technology of Henan Province said late on Wednesday that 70,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of aluminium capacity would be available for transfer throughout the country.

Any smelter in China can buy the capacity, provided the capacity is within overall quotas in the province or region where the company operates.

A document attached to the Commission’s statement showed the capacity was already obsolete. It listed the smelters affected as Sanmenxia Tianyuan with 30,000 tpy, Qinyang Qin‘ao with 20,000 tpy and Xichuan Aluminium, also with 20,000 tpy.

Last month, Inner Mongolia Chuangyuan Metal Co snapped up 207,000 tonnes of aluminium capacity transferred from five Henan smelters. Henan Shenhup Coal & Power Co. then said it was transferring 60,000 tpy.

The transfers of smelter capacity out of the province is part of a campaign by Henan, located in the central part of China, to control local pollution levels.

Shanghai aluminium prices closed near a six-year high on Wednesday on reports that an aluminium smelter and alumina refinery had started to reduce production to meet winter output restrictions, almost two months before the limits take effect.