The metal aluminum industry has raised waves again, which has “excited” the A-share aluminum plate. As of the closing on December 23, “aluminum Mao” Aluminum Corporation Of China Limited(601600) , Jiao Zuo Wan Fang Aluminum Manufacturing Co.Ltd(000612) rose, and Yunnan Aluminium Co.Ltd(000807) , Henan Mingtai Al.Industrial Co.Ltd(601677) , Guangdong Hoshion Aluminium Co.Ltd(002824) followed. On the futures market, as of the afternoon of the 23rd, the main contract of Shanghai aluminum rose by more than 4% this week.
On the news side, China Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd. was established on December 23, and Aluminum Corporation Of China Limited(601600) Group Co., Ltd. holds its shares. Overseas, the European energy crisis continues to ferment, resulting in a number of aluminum smelting giants to reduce production and stop production. The construction of electrolytic aluminum in Europe is at a low point in the year.
the European aluminum industry has witnessed “production reduction tide” and “shutdown tide”
Dunkirk aluminum, Europe’s largest aluminum smelter, recently announced that it would cut aluminum production due to soaring electricity prices. The news provided a “booster” for aluminum prices. As of 19:00 on December 23, Beijing time, LME aluminum weekly rose by more than 4%.
Dunkirk aluminum said it had restricted aluminum production in the past two weeks in response to soaring electricity prices. Laurent geeraert, the company’s trade union representative, said that about 3% of the company’s production capacity had been reduced. Due to soaring electricity prices, the company has lost about 20 million euros since early November. If electricity prices remain extremely high, the company’s production may need to be further reduced.
Laurent girat said that whether production will be further reduced depends on the demand of the factory to fulfill the supply contract. The cost of closing the plant and restarting the smelting plant is high.
Dunkirk Aluminum Company of France is not the only aluminum smelting enterprise in Europe that has difficulties in operation due to soaring electricity prices. With the continuous fermentation of the European energy crisis, European aluminum enterprises have fallen into “production reduction tide” and “shutdown tide”.
Alro Slatina, a Romanian aluminum giant, is one of the largest integrated aluminum producers in Europe. On December 23, Konstantin Popescu, chairman of alro’s internal trade union, said to foreign media that the company was facing problems such as high energy prices and lack of energy. The factory plans to suspend operation and is gradually reducing production.
In addition, kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica, an aluminum enterprise in Montenegro, also announced its shutdown recently. The voerde and Hamburg smelters of trimet aluminum, a large European primary aluminum producer, have also started the process of production reduction.
According to the statistics of the research team of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals network, at present, the electrolytic aluminum production capacity in Western Europe is about 5 million tons, accounting for 6% of the total global production capacity. At the end of November, the annual production capacity of electrolytic aluminum in Western Europe was about 3.26 million tons, with an average operating rate of 65.2%, and the overall operating rate was at a low point in the year.
European energy crisis may continue to ferment
European aluminum giants have “broken their arms to protect themselves”, which is still rooted in the European energy crisis. Recently, Russia’s natural gas supply to Europe has been further reduced, exacerbating the tense situation of energy supply in Europe.
“Yamal Europe Pipeline” is one of the main pipelines for Russia to transport natural gas to Europe. According to the data provided by jinlianchuang, since December 18, the gas volume from Russia to Germany through the “Yamal European pipeline” has continued to decline; By December 21, the gas transmission was completely stopped. At the same time, the natural gas flow through the velke kapusany inlet of the Ukraine / Slovakia border has also decreased by about 5 million cubic meters.
“Russia’s reduction of natural gas supply to Europe has exacerbated the tense situation of energy supply in Europe. As of December 20, the European natural gas inventory was only 59%. With the approaching cold temperature, Europe will accelerate inventory consumption, and there is still room for natural gas prices to rise.” Jinlianchuang natural gas analyst LV Na told the Shanghai Securities Journal.
In addition, the certification of Beixi No. 2 natural gas pipeline, another heavyweight project of Russian natural gas transmission to Europe, has been blocked again.
The German energy regulator Federal Network Administration said on December 16 that the certification of “Beixi No. 2” project has not been restarted, so the formal operation time of the pipeline will be delayed for at least several months. The German Foreign Ministry said that the “Beixi No. 2” natural gas pipeline project could not be approved because it did not comply with EU energy regulations.
Affected by this, European natural gas prices and electricity prices soared again. According to Jinlian record data, the increase of natural gas and electricity price in Europe exceeded 20% on December 20, and the benchmark Dutch natural gas futures price soared to 160.5 euros / megawatt hour, close to the record of 162.13 euros on October 6. The German electricity price delivered next year once soared 6.4% to 269 euros / megawatt hour.
The research team of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals network said that the temperature in most parts of Europe fell below zero degrees Celsius this week, and the energy crisis will further worsen. European natural gas prices have soared about six times this year, after a tenfold surge. Soaring energy prices have also led to a sharp rise in inflation in Europe.
(Shanghai Securities News)
