标题: China's Aluminum Industry [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 10-23-2011 13:21 标题: China's Aluminum Industry Ed Crroks, Alcoa Indetifies Opportunity in China's Industry; Interview Klaus Kleinfeld Chief executive, Alcoa; The Company's need for aluminum is growing at a startling pace. Financial Times, Oct 17, 2011. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/10e3b7 ... 9-00144feab49a.html
My comment:
(a) The "company" in the subtitle likely should have been "country."
(b) Summary of the report:
(i) Mr Kleinfeld said China's aluminum industry is "very expensive and it's not particularly clean * * * it's very energy-intensive and energy is probably the thing China has the least."
(ii) The report stated, "As the largest producer and consumer of aluminum, China accounts for more than 40 per cent of global supply and demand, and its market is growing at a startling pace. Demand rose 21 per cent last year, and Alcoa expects a 17 per cent rise this year. Industrilisation and urbanisation are driving demand for aluminum
(iii) The report said Mr Kleinfeld lticked of China's weakness in this industry:
* China imports 40% of its need for the raw material, bauxite;
* "a third of domestic production is mined undergrand, ahigh-cost means of extraction compared with surface operations used for production in countries sucj as Australia and Guinea";
* China's refineries are inefficient and "mostly coal-fired, causing" pollution
(c) To China's detriment, China's leadership has not been able to grabbed the notion "comparative advantage" advanced by noted economist by David Ricardo (1772-1823, English) who explained it in his 1817 book On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.
Note: The report cites
Malcolm Moore, The Great Wall of China Is Falling Down; The Great Wall of China may have survived the Huns and Mongol hordes, but widespread neglect, underfunding and mining means that it is now falling down. Daily Telegraph, Oct 13, 2011.
Quote from Telegraph:
“'Actually the biggest problem is not illegal mining, but simply the fact that there is no regular maintenance,' said Dong Waohui, the vice-chairman of the Great Wall Association.
"Over the centuries, bad weather has taken its toll. Indeed, the fact that the wall continues to stand at all is a tribute to the ingenuity of Ming dynasty engineers, who mixed sticky rice into the wall's mortar. The chemical bonding between the rice and the slaked lime was so tight that in many places weeds still cannot grow.
Note:
(a) slake (vt):
"2: satisfy, quench <slake your thirst> <will slake your curiosity>
3: to cause (as lime) to heat and crumble by treatment with water : HYDRATE" www.m-w.com
(b) lime (material) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_(material)
(c) rave http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rave
(or rave dance or rave party)