Hong Kong (Platts)--20Feb2013/544 am EST/1044 GMT
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is urging the country's nonferrous metals sector to trim energy consumption by 18% by the end of 2015 from 2010 levels, saving 7.5 million mt standard coal, MITT said on its website late Tuesday. This is in line with the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China's requesting green low-carbon recycling development, lowering pollutants and saving energy in the domestic nonferrous metals industry. Power usage by China's aluminum sector averaged 13,902 kilowatt hour/mt in 2011, down 5% from 14,697 kilowatt hour/mt in 2006, said the MITT. Its lead sector however, consumed an average 434 kg standard coal/mt in 2011, much higher compared with the 300 kg standard coal/mt in other developed countries. The ministry noted that although power consumption by the aluminum sector has already reached levels similar to those in other advanced countries, there are great variations in energy usage among different Chinese smelters, with the most efficient consuming just 13,000 kilowatt hours/mt, and the least efficient at 15,000 kilowatt hours/mt.--Joshua Leung, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Irene Tang, irene_tang@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Metals Daily. http://www.platts.com/Products/metalsdaily