China's Aluminum Industry

choi

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.  


-----------------------------Separately
(1) 万里长城千年不倒，正在毁于商业开发. VOA Chinese, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... wall-132381053.html
(河北省 [保定市] 莱源县在长城脚下开采铜和铁等金属矿藏; [内蒙古自治区] 呼和浩特市 清水河县)

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)

(2) 诺奖得主:中国海外能源政策不明智. VOA Chinese, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... licy-132369178.html
(纽约大学教授、2001年诺贝尔经济学奖得主麦克·史彭斯(Michael Spence)10月21日在香港大学发表演讲)

Quote: "中国官方统计数字显示，从1993年开始，中国石油消费量首次超过产量，成为石油净进口国。2009年，中国石油进口首次突破两亿吨。目前，中国石油需求的55.6%依靠进口。中国国内专家预测，这个比例将在2030年达到或超过80%。

My comment: I can not find a news report for this talk.

(3)
(a) 记者手记：今日三峡 生态堪忧(一). VOA Chinese, Oct 20, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... oday-132234163.html
(b) 记者手记：今日三峡 生态堪忧(二). VOA Chinese, Oct 21, 2011.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... oday-132300458.html

Note: 湖北省宜昌市 秭归县