see article belowMajor spending on zinc, lead smelting + -...

see article below

Major spending on zinc, lead smelting
+ - 08:50, November 28, 2007




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China, the world's top producer and consumer of zinc and lead, said investment in the two industries grew by more than half in the first nine months of the year and that the rate of expansion was "excessively rapid".

Spending on zinc and lead smelting jumped 58 percent to 7.95 billion yuan from January to September compared with the same period last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website yesterday.

The statement may signal further measures to curtail growth, analyst Zhang Changhai, said.

"The percentage gain is alarming," Zhang of Beijing Antaike Information Development Co, said.

China supplies a third of the world's exports of lead and is a net exporter of zinc, used to rust-proof steel. Dwindling supplies from the country may help extend gains in global lead prices and curb losses in zinc. Lead has risen 80 percent this year and zinc has tumbled 45 percent.

The country is considering tax changes to curb exports of both metals, industry officials said yesterday.

The planning body may remove a 5 percent tax rebate on exports of high-grade zinc next year and impose taxes instead, and may raise the lead export tax to 15 percent from the current 10 percent.

The government has tightened curbs on lending and on the environmental impact of zinc and lead smelting. Some of China's new lead suppliers in Henan Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have been delayed as a result.

About 210,000 tons of capacity is scheduled to come into production by the end of this year in the two regions and another 1.23 million tons is expected to be completed by 2009, Zhang predicted.

Li Zhicheng, an analyst at Zhujiang Futures Co said China's zinc and lead industries "look like they may go the same way as aluminum".

Source: China Daily/Agencies