BEIJING – The Covid lockdown this week of a relatively unknown Chinese city sent global prices of aluminium rocketing to a 14-year high.
Why did the outbreak in Baise spark fears around the world about the key metal?
– Where is Baise? –
Located near the border with Vietnam, Baise is nicknamed the “aluminium capital of southern China”.
Home to around 3.5 million people, Baise is a hub for aluminium mining and production.
It produces about 2.2 million tonnes of the commodity per year — more than 80 percent of the output in the resource-rich Guangxi region.
Guangxi is China’s main alumina-exporting region, shipping out around 500,000 tonnes of the aluminium component per month.
China is the world’s biggest producer of aluminium,…
