Analysis of competitiveness of China’s aluminum industry in the world and its development trend

Aluminum is the second largest metallic material after steel. It is also an indispensable and basic raw material in the economic development of a country. Besides, aluminum is known as a green strategic material due to its efficient recycling performance. China’s aluminum industry has made remarkable achievements in technological innovation and scientific progress through decades of development. However, in recent years, the huge production scale of the aluminum industry has increasingly prominent problems of limited resources, rising energy costs, and environmental pollution. It should be realized that the development and survival of China’s aluminum industry have reached a very critical period. This paper comprehensively studied the current situation of the production and technology of China’s aluminum metallurgical industry. Major contradictions and challenges faced by the development of China’s aluminum industry in the fields of resources, energy, and the environment were revealed. In addition, the competitiveness of the production cost for Chinese alumina refining and aluminum smelting in the world was compared and analyzed. It is shown that the major factors restricting China’s aluminum industry development include the lack of high-quality bauxite resources, high energy costs, the requirement for further improvement of the production technology, and no effective treatment of solid and hazardous wastes. Hence, a development strategy for China’s aluminum industry was proposed, which includes the strict control of the production capacity without out-of-order expansion and establishment of a reasonable industry arrangement, optimization of the resource and energy supply structure, improvement of the production core competitiveness by implementing high-quality, energy-saving, and low consumption strategy, and realizing standardized discharge and resource utilization of waste gas emissions, wastewater, and solid disposals from China’s aluminum industry. The research results of this work are of great significance to the industrial structure adjustment and high-quality, sustainable development for China’s aluminum industry.