Zhejiang copper plants hardest hit by power curbs - Analysts

Bloomberg reported that China’s Zhejiang province has been hardest hit by a government drive to curb energy consumption with some factories forced to reduce output by as much as 40%.

Mr Grace Qu a Beijing based analyst at CRU International Limited said that plants in the coastal province, which buy refined metal to make pipes and wires have been asked to cut their power usage to 60 percent of their average monthly amount in the H1. Factories in Jiangsu, Guangdong and Hebei have also been hit by the energy saving drive.

According to researcher Shanghai Metals Market, China has started to curb output at some energy intensive plants such as steel mills and aluminum smelters as the central government aims to meet a power saving target. Zhejiang, 5 other eastern provinces plus the city of Shanghai account for about 60 percent of China’s semi fabricated copper output.

Mr Zhu Lin an analyst at Shanghai Metals Market said that we’ve heard some plants in Zhejiang saying their production will lose 20% to 40%. The impact varies from place to place.