Hongqiao eyes start-up of Indonesia alumina plant's 2nd phase by end-2021

China Hongqiao

02/09/2021 16:41

Sept 2 (Reuters) - The second phase of a China Hongqiao
Group  1378.HK  alumina plant in Indonesia should start up by
the end of this year, an adviser to the aluminium giant said on
Thursday, as prices for the raw material hit two-year highs.
    The first 1 million tonnes per year phase of the Well
Harvest Winning alumina refinery on the island of Borneo began
producing in 2016. Hongqiao had aimed to commission the second
phase by end-2020 but recent disclosures only said it was
"progressing smoothly."
    "A second phase of the Indonesian project - another 1
million tonnes - should come on line later this year," Ron
Knapp, international adviser at Hongqiao, said in a presentation
to the Fastmarkets International Aluminium virtual conference.
    Hongqiao currently has around 16 million tonnes of annual
alumina capacity, mostly in China, noted Knapp, a former
secretary general of the International Aluminium Institute.
    COMEX alumina futures  AALc1  hit $320 a tonne on Wednesday,
the highest since July 2019 following a fire at the Jamalco
refinery in Jamaica last month. Chinese prices  SMM-AVEG-ALM 
for the material topped 3,000 yuan ($465) a tonne on Thursday,
also a more than two-year high, amid tight supply.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2PV0HA
    The run-up in alumina costs has contributed to a surge in
prices of aluminium  CMAL3  to decade highs this week.  MET/L 
    Hongqiao is moving almost one-third of its 6.5 million
tonnes of annual aluminium capacity from its home of Shandong to
Yunnan in Southwest China. The first phase of the Yunnan project
started up in 2020 and three more production lines for Phase 2
will be transferred from Shandong next year, Knapp said.
    The company plans to expand aluminium sales into the rail
and aerospace sectors in future as its Shandong operations focus
on downstream applications and it moves midstream processing to
Yunnan, he added.
    ($1 = 6.4554 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Tom Daly;
Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((tom.daly@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 5669 2119;))