Saturday, January 26, 2008
China's Pain is Century Aluminum's Gain
The main part of the article is about aluminum, how a major aluminum smelter in China had to shut down, and what that's going to do to the aluminum market.
But the larger issue, for most stampers, is in this section. Power problems and unreliability in China are going to increase
Arif said that while the outages at Chalco’s plants are only temporary, there will start to be more power issues in China going forward. China has been subsidizing power for its users so demand for power has grown unabated, Arif said. As the costs to produce power, whether coal or other fuel, has increased, the Chinese government has spoken about increasing the power costs for institutional consumers like aluminum consumers. “That’s why you’ll start seeing a lot more of these types of power issues develop,” he said.
But the larger issue, for most stampers, is in this section. Power problems and unreliability in China are going to increase
Arif said that while the outages at Chalco’s plants are only temporary, there will start to be more power issues in China going forward. China has been subsidizing power for its users so demand for power has grown unabated, Arif said. As the costs to produce power, whether coal or other fuel, has increased, the Chinese government has spoken about increasing the power costs for institutional consumers like aluminum consumers. “That’s why you’ll start seeing a lot more of these types of power issues develop,” he said.
