Nearly 30% of Guangxi's power gap has stopped production of high-energy-consuming enterprises

The power shortage in the summer hit again.

Guangxi is experiencing the worst shortage of power and the longest time span in the past 20 years. Not only is it a steel producer, but electrolytic aluminum, lead and zinc companies are all subject to power curtailment.

With the arrival of electricity peaks and the expansion of electricity gaps, the normal production of some steel mills and electrolytic aluminum plants has been affected. “There are two or three production lines in the steel mills that have stopped, and the production cuts have been about 20% from June to July.” Yu Juan, director of Liushan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.’s distribution company’s plan information department, told the “First Financial Daily” recently that the Guangxi region is short of supply. Electric power cuts have already led to a significant reduction in production.

The shutdown of some production lines of Liuzhou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. has been suspended in Guangxi. According to the introduction of local enterprises in Guangxi, due to the fact that the electricity gap in Guangxi has approached 30%, the relevant government departments have requested that the companies that have eliminated and restricted enterprises should be firmly shut down, and they will adopt “open five” for other high-energy-consuming enterprises. Stop two or "open four stop three" and other measures.

As the largest steel company in Guangxi, Liu Gang had to stop production of some production lines because of the government's power restrictions. From July 28th, Liuzhou Steel's mid-plate production line began to stop production and maintenance. It is planned to suspend production and maintenance for 15 days, and it is expected to affect the plate production of 75,000 tons.

“At present, the operating rate of steel mills is not low, if it is because of power cuts and other reasons were forced to stop production, will also choose some relatively poor efficiency of the production line.” Xiyuan Shinkansen analyst Qiu Yuecheng pointed to this reporter, such as the current construction steel The profit is higher than the sheet metal. If the steel mill is limited in electricity, it may choose the production lines such as plate and hot rolling to reduce production first.

Some ferroalloys and small and medium sized steel companies have only been shut down because they are listed as out-of-class and restricted companies. Gu Nanfeng, deputy chief engineer of Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd., recently revealed in an interview with the media that due to power shortages, more than 1,000 companies in Guangxi have stopped or partially stopped production.

In addition to iron and steel enterprises, large-scale electrolytic aluminum companies are also directly related to power curtailment. According to the reporter’s understanding, some local electrolyzed aluminum enterprises in Guangxi have received notices of preparations for power cuts for several times, and some companies even received notices requesting them to reduce the total amount of electricity used by 50%. However, at present, most electrolytic aluminum companies have not yet substantially implemented power cuts. They have been coordinating power supply issues with local governments and power grid companies, and have proposed various power supply solutions and reduced non-production power, hoping to be able to " Get rid of the "electricity shortage season."

According to the survey report of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals (SMM), the zinc smelting enterprises in Guangxi have also been affected by power curtailment, and the production start-up rate has been reduced. As the situation of tight power supply is unlikely to change significantly in the short term, the zinc smelter in the province is not optimistic about the production of the second half of the year. The zinc production in the province is estimated to be reduced.

The impact is expected to be weaker than last year. In fact, it is not just Guangxi that faces a shortage of electricity supply. Since late July, the electricity supply and demand situation in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other regions is also very tight. As iron and steel enterprises are large energy consumers, electricity consumption accounts for about 14% of all industrial electricity consumption, and therefore, the increase in the degree of electric power is limited everywhere. It also has a direct impact on the production of steel mills. Jiangxi Pinggang, Jiangsu Yonggang and other steel mills have entered the “orderly limited power supply” category in July.

An insider of Henan Anyang Iron and Steel Company also told reporters that in recent months, the company’s electricity supply has not been particularly normal. “Some of the company’s rolling mills stopped intermittently for several days at the end of last month and will be affected later. Depends on the local government's distribution of electricity, the power cut is mainly to reduce the company's electricity load, in the end by shutting down the blast furnace or suspend the production line to reduce the load, will be decided by the company itself."

According to report, generally, the three months of July, August and September are the worst times for the power shortage. Steel mills located in power shortage provinces and cities are generally forced to reduce their electricity load by selecting maintenance methods, because the blast furnace is shut down. The cost and loss are even greater. However, compared with the steel mills in the south, the limited power of the steel mills in the north is still not significant.

Li Zhiqiang, general director of Hebei Tangshan Guofeng Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., which is located in the largest steel-producing province in China, told reporters yesterday that the company has not yet received notification of power cuts and nearby steel companies have not yet been restricted.

Zhang Xiao, an analyst at Shanghai Nonferrous Network, pointed out that although many companies currently do not have any substantial measures to curtail power production, the current situation of power shortage has not shown any signs of abating. Once the shortage of power is further aggravated, the aluminum power cut will reduce production. Imminent. “The actual impact of power curtailment is also one of the important factors for judging market trends in the second half of the year. If the power curtailment situation intensifies, supply will decrease, which will further support the rise in electrolytic aluminum prices.”

However, Hu Yanping, an analyst at United Metals, believes that the impact of power curtailment on companies this year should not be greater than last year. "Last year was mainly due to the various local governments' efforts to achieve the 'Eleventh Five-Year' energy-saving emission reduction task. In the new year, the energy-saving and emission-reduction targets will not be pressured for the time being. The current power cuts are only caused by electricity shortages during the peak period of electricity consumption, and there are essential differences from last year's power cuts.

Last year, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, and cement companies including Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hebei, and Henan provinces were mostly informed by the local government's power cuts and production shutdowns, and the mandatory power cuts continued to reach the fourth quarter.