China aluminium (Chinalco) general manager Yu Dehui has called out for strict controls to rein in copper smelting expansion in the country as a supply side reform. The company executive submitted a proposal to this effect at Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on Thursday.
Yu in his report has stated copper output surged by 200pc since 2008 causing a glut. China’s annual copper capacity stood at 12.59mn mt in 2019 which will rise to 14.22mn mt in 2021. Output of refined copper though, stands at 9.78mn mt which means 77pc capacity utilisation.
The Chinese government is already rolling out measures to curb excess steel and aluminium capacity. Measures to control excess of copper capacity though have not been put in place. Yu suggests revised industry standards for copper smelting capacity and technology upgrades for the industry.