Categories:
Base Metals
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General Market Commentary
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General Base Metals
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General Market Commentary
China Top Copper Producer Halts Output After Pollution Order
Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest producer, is halting all output in the province after the local government ordered the curbs to reduce pollution, a company official said Tuesday.
The smelter received the order on Monday evening to stop production for at least a week before a further assessment based on local pollution levels, the official said, asking not to be identified because of company rules. The firm, which has 1.02 million metric tons of annual capacity in the southeastern province, remains in talks with the government to halt only smelting and not refining operations to minimize losses, according to the official.
China is intensifying its campaign against air pollution by extending its winter manufacturing curbs in 28 northern cities to other provinces. Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., the nation’s second-largest copper producer, said earlier this month that it’s halting as much as 30 percent of smelting capacity at its main production hub in the eastern province of Anhui after a similar order.