China Hongqiao Group has started to cut its aluminium production as part of local government winter curtailment orders, according to a document released by the Binzhou government earlier this week.
The winter cuts document published on the City of Binzhou official website lists five closures of Hongqiao's smelters, which have aluminium capacity of nearly 6.46 million tonnes per year. Based on the document, Fastmarkets MB aluminium analyst Yang Cao estimates curtailments at Hongqiao will total 330,000-550,000 tonnes of aluminium production for the period November 15, 2018-March 15, 2019. A company source at Hongqiao agreed the amount cut matches Fastmarkets calculations. "We already closed 340,000 tonnes or...