Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sees a host of bullish factors pushing up prices of major commodities, including aluminum, copper and rebar in 2017, the company said on its website Thursday.
It listed among these factors China's surging export volume in January, the Chinese government's Yuan 1.5 trillion ($218.64 billion) infrastructure investment in the northwestern province of Xinjiang and expected environmental protection measures limiting aluminum smelting operations in North China during the upcoming National People's Congress in Beijing in the autumn.
Shanghai Futures Exchange most active 1704 aluminum futures contract, to be delivered in April closed at Yuan 14,365/mt ($2,095) Thursday, up Yuan 20/mt from Wednesday.
Back in early 2016, prices were much less at around Yuan 10,000/mt.
Hong Kong media back in late January reported that an estimated 30% of the 11 million mt/year aluminum smelting capacity in the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, North China, Henan province, Central China, as well as Shanxi Province, Northwest China could be cut this year, to comply with Ministry of Environmental Protection pollution prevention plans in those regions for 2017.
