China's Shandong Chiping Xinfa Group has raised the aluminum production capacity at its Xinjiang smelter by 550,000 mt/year, or 69%, to 1.35 million mt/year as planned in early April, a company source said Tuesday.
The prevailing weak domestic aluminum market has not deterred the company from boosting production rates as costs in the region were comparatively lower than other parts of China, the source said.
The Xinjiang smelter has a planned design capacity of 2.4 million mt/year.
In 2014, the Xinjiang smelter is expected to produce about 1.2 million mt of metal, which is an increase of 33% from the 900,000 mt achieved in 2013. The alumina feed for the Xinjiang smelter comes mainly from Xinfa's own refineries in Shandong, Shanxi, and Guangxi.
The company operates a 6 million mt/year refinery in Shandong province, which currently produces at a rate of 2.5-2.6 million mt/year. In Shanxi, it also operates the 2.4 million mt/year Jiaokou Feimei Aluminum refinery and the 1.6 million mt/year Shanxi Xinfa Chemical refinery, both of which are now operating at full rates.
In South China, Xinfa operates the 2.4 million mt/year Guangxi Xinfa Aluminum refinery.
