中國宏橋今年計劃擴大產能 China Hongqiao undeterred by aluminium glut
The world’s largest aluminium producer expects to increase its capacity this year, in spite of a global glut that has depressed utilisation rates and weighed on prices for the lightweight metal.
今年，全球最大的鋁生產企業預計將擴大產能，儘管全球供應過剩已經壓低了鋁利用率並拖累了這一輕金屬的價格。
China Hongqiao, the world’s largest aluminium producer by capacity, on Monday said it planned to increase capacity to 6m tonnes by the end of 2016 from 5.19m tonnes at the end of last year, depending on market conditions.
週一，全球產能最大的鋁生產企業中國宏橋(China Hongqiao)表示，計劃到2016年底時把產能從去年底的519萬噸提高到600萬噸，具體進度會依市場情況而定。
Zhang Bo, chief executive, said: “If demand is good, we will stick with the plan. If not, we can slow down new capacity expansion or even suspend it.”
該公司行政總裁張波說：“如果需求旺盛，我們會按照計劃來進行。如果需求疲軟，我們會放慢新增產能計劃甚至暫停擴張。”
The group added it would spend up to Rmb15bn ($2.3bn) in expanding capacity and retrofitting coal-fired power plants to meet China’s stricter emissions requirements.
該公司補充稱，將花費至多150億元人民幣（合23億美元）擴大產能和改造燃煤電廠，以滿足中國更加嚴格的排放要求。
Better known in the industry as Shandong Weiqiao Aluminium & Electricity, Hongqiao reported 2015 sales up 39 per cent year on year to 4.12m tonnes, in spite of production cuts at the end of the year as aluminium margins deteriorated.
宏橋的財報稱，2015年的銷量同比增長39%，至412萬噸，儘管鋁產品利潤率惡化導致該公司在去年底降低了產量。
Fuelled by cheap power and the need to keep producing in order to repay loans, Chinese aluminium smelters have flooded international markets, forcing western producers to cut output and leading to dumping allegations in the US.
在低電價和爲償還貸款而維持生產的需求的推動下，中國鍊鋁企業涌向了國際市場，西方生產商被迫減產，美國還就此提出了傾銷指控。
China now accounts for more than half of the world’s aluminium production and its debt-laden smelters’ ability to continue producing is the main factor in when the global supply glut will tighten.
如今，中國鋁產量佔全球的一半以上，中國負債累累的鍊鋁企業維持生產的能力，是決定全球供應過剩何時會緩解的主要因素。
The lightweight metal is trading at $1,550 per tonne, having recovered slightly from a seven-year low late last year.
目前鋁價約爲每噸1550美元，較去年底的7年低點略有回升。
Hongqiao is one of several Chinese smelters that have set up a company to buy excess inventory, which has helped bolster prices but done little to solve the underlying fundamental oversupply in the industry.
包括宏橋在內的幾家中國鍊鋁企業都設立了一家公司來收購過剩的存貨，此舉幫助提振了鋁價，但基本無助於解決該行業根本性的供應過剩問題。
Chinese exporters, led by aluminium extrusion producer Zhongwang, have also attracted short-sellers suspicious of their reported margins. Hongqiao’s reported margin fell from 26 per cent in 2014 to 20 per cent last year, and Mr Zhang said he expected margins to stay stable this year.
以鋁型材生產商忠旺(Zhongwang)爲首的中國鋁材出口商，還引來了對它們財報中的利潤率心存懷疑的做空機構的關注。宏橋的財報顯示，去年，該公司利潤率從2014年的26%降至20%。張波表示，他預計今年利潤率將會保持穩定。
Hong Kong-listed Hongqiao reported a 31 per cent drop in net profit to Rmb3.65bn, in spite of a 22 per cent rise in revenues. Gross current liabilities soared from Rmb28bn to Rmb42bn, and the group booked Rmb1bn in foreign exchange losses due to the impact of a weaker renminbi on its foreign currency debt.
香港上市的宏橋報告稱，淨利潤下降了31%，至36.5億元人民幣，儘管收入增長了22%。總流動負債從280億元人民幣飆升至420億元人民幣。另外，由於外幣債務受到人民幣貶值的衝擊，該公司的匯兌損失達到10億元人民幣。
Private aluminium groups such as Hongqiao have benefited by buying electricity from generators they control, or sourcing cheap power from hydropower dams and coal-fired plants constructed during China’s infrastructure binge of the past decade. Many of Hongqiao’s customers are clustered around its Shandong smelter, allowing production efficiencies when they buy its molten aluminium.
從自己控股的電廠買電，或者向過去十年基建熱潮中興建的水電站和燃煤電廠購買廉價電力，令宏橋等民營鋁業集團獲益不少。宏橋的許多客戶就聚集在這家山東鋁企的周圍，它們購買宏橋的熔融鋁時，可因爲這一點而提高生產效率。
“Hongqiao has captive power, they don’t have the employment legacies like [state-owned] Chalco and they are a little more innovative in terms of their shipping of molten metal,” said Michael Komesaroff, industry analyst at Urandaline Investments.
“宏橋有自備的電力，沒有（國有的）中鋁(Chalco)那樣的就業遺留問題，而且在熔融金屬運輸方面顯得略微更具創新性，”Urandaline Investments的行業分析師邁克爾•科梅薩羅夫(Michael Komesaroff)表示。
Smelters including Hongqiao have been forced to build expensive alumina refineries in Indonesia after that country outlawed shipments of bauxite ore in an effort to attract industrial investment.
由於印度尼西亞爲吸引工業投資而發佈禁令禁止鋁礬土出口，宏橋等鍊鋁企業被迫在印尼興建了高成本的氧化鋁精煉廠。
Mr Zhang said the company planned to prioritise shipments from a new bauxite mine in Guinea this year. Hongqiao’s projected imports account for about one-quarter of China’s total bauxite imports.
張波表示，今年公司打算優先由幾內亞的一處新鋁土礦進口。宏橋的預期進口量約佔中國鋁礬土進口總量的四分之一。
