China to Impose 15% Tariff for Alloyed Aluminium Export

Chinese government decided to impose 15% export tariff on alloyed aluminium ingot effective on August 20. The country tries to reduce the export for energy intensive material through the restriction. With the lower export, Asian primary aluminium premium could increase due to the alternative demand.

Chinese alloyed aluminium export surges since the beginning of the year. The country increases the secondary alloy export to Japan while China increase primary aluminium alloy ingot to South Korea and Taiwan, according to Japanese sources. Chinese makers apparently avoid 15% tariff for primary aluminium export by adding metallic silicon and other additives.

Japanese aluminium alloy import increased to 1.8 times to 152,024 tonnes from China in January-June from same period of 2007. A Japanese trader said primary aluminium alloy from China increases to around 2,000-3,000 tonnes.

Japanese light metal rerollers import primary aluminium alloy with 1-1.5% magnesium as sample. The rerollers could revise the import strategy and reduce the import after the new export tariff.