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Recently, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the Notice on Promoting the Orderly Development of the Alumina Industry (No. 1655 of the Development and Reform Industry (2018).

The release of the policy document has aroused great concern in the market. This is also the first relevant policy for the development of alumina industry after the national macro-control of electrolytic aluminium industry for many years. The document pointed out that enterprises should be encouraged to aim at advanced indicators such as the comprehensive recovery rate of alumina over 80%, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of alumina less than 380 kg of standard coal, and the salary consumption per ton of alumina less than 3 tons, so as to tap the potential of the standard and promote the green development of the industry. For new alumina projects, government departments should strengthen scientific planning, coordinate the scale and layout of industrial development in the region as a whole, and prevent construction projects from rushing up. At the same time, according to the Regulations on the Approval and Record Management of Enterprise Investment Projects, we should do a good job in the project record. New construction projects should be strictly managed and supervised afterwards. Alumina enterprises should publish real information about the scale of project investment and construction progress, not exaggerate the facts, and not follow the trend of speculation. Only in this way can the two sides coordinate to promote the orderly progress of the project.

Antaike believes that the policy has pointed out the direction for the sustainable and healthy development of domestic alumina industry, and put forward higher requirements in terms of project construction feasibility, investment authenticity and enterprise technical and economic indicators. At the same time, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further organize research on the development strategy of alumina industry, strengthen the guidance for the development of alumina industry in various regions, and ensure the steady development of China's alumina industry.

The following is the main body of the notice:

Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities with separate plans, the Development and Reform Commission of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the competent departments of industry and information technology:

Alumina is the main material for producing electrolytic aluminium. In recent years, the output of alumina in China has increased rapidly, which effectively guarantees the development demand of electrolytic aluminium industry. With the reduction of domestic bauxite resources, the decline of grade and the gradual increase of overseas resource utilization, the alumina industry has shown a trend of transferring to some coastal areas, gradually forming a development pattern in which inland areas mainly utilize domestic resources and coastal areas use overseas resources as supplement. Influenced by fluctuations in the international market and rising prices at the beginning of this year, some enterprises blindly optimistic about the market prospects and rushed to plan and construct a number of alumina projects in coastal areas, which caused serious overcapacity worries to the industry and affected the healthy development of the industry. In order to promote the orderly and healthy development of the alumina industry, we hereby notify you as follows.

Overall requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping's socialist ideology with Chinese characteristics in the new era, we should fully and thoroughly implement the spirit of the Nineteenth National Congress of the CPC, adhere to the general tone of steady progress, adhere to the new development concept, take supply-side structural reform as the main line, play a decisive role in market allocation of resources, better play the role of the government, strictly implement the requirements of safety, environmental protection, energy consumption and quality, and standardize market rank. In order to promote transformation and upgrading, achieve dynamic balance between supply and demand in the market, meet domestic development needs, and promote orderly and healthy development of alumina industry.

Second, strengthen scientific planning

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will organize research on the development strategy of alumina industry and strengthen the guidance for the development of alumina industry in various regions. The provincial development and reform committees and the competent departments in charge of industry and information technology should keep abreast of the current development situation of alumina industry in the region in a timely manner, strengthen scientific planning for the development of alumina industry, coordinate the scale and layout of industrial development in the region, and make full use of project demonstration in the light of the economic and social development, industrial basis, market demand, total energy consumption and environmental capacity of the region. Strict implementation of construction requirements, orderly promotion of project construction, strengthening the supervision of the whole process, ensuring that the scale of industrial development matches domestic market demand and local carrying capacity, and preventing construction projects from rushing to the top. China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association should strengthen industry self-discipline and timely release information on the development situation of China's alumina industry, so as to provide reference for enterprise investment decisions.

Three Strict Project Management

Local departments in charge of development and reform, industry and information technology at all levels shall, in accordance with the division of responsibilities and the Regulations on the Approval and Record Management of Enterprise Investment Projects, do a good job in project filing. We should keep abreast of the progress of project implementation in a timely manner, strengthen supervision after the event in conjunction with relevant departments, and ensure that the project strictly carries out the procedures of safety assessment, environmental assessment, energy assessment and land use, and strictly enforce relevant laws and regulations. In key areas where environmental protection departments have clear requirements, new alumina projects should strictly implement the special emission limit standards. Those who fail to comply with relevant procedures shall be corrected in time; those who violate relevant laws and regulations such as safety, environmental protection, energy consumption, land use and quality shall be investigated and punished according to law. In project filing and post-event supervision, we should ensure that all kinds of market participants are treated equally.

Fourth, accelerate transformation and upgrading

Local authorities in charge of development and reform, industry and information technology at all levels should encourage enterprises to carry out digitized, networked and intellectualized transformation in the light of actual conditions, and support enterprises to tackle key scientific and technological problems around key areas such as deep energy conservation, comprehensive utilization of red mud resources and treatment of complex diaspore bauxite ores, so as to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Enterprises should be encouraged to aim at advanced indicators such as the recovery rate of alumina over 80%, the energy consumption per ton of alumina less than 380 kg of standard coal, and the salary consumption per ton of alumina less than 3 tons.