The central government’s environmental protection inspectorate submitted a feedback report on Jan. 2 to the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which blames that the local government failed to truthfully report the illegal aluminum capacity and effectively implement the policy of eliminating illegal capacity. Specifically, it highlights a Xinjiang Jiarun’s 200,000-ton aluminum smelter project and a capacity of 800,000 tons of East Hope Group, both of which were illegal and had been operating for nearly 2 years before inspection. The inspectorate also asks the provincial government to submit a rectification plan to the State Council within 30 working days.

Xinjiang and Shandong are China’s two largest aluminum producers. Compared with the report to Shandong Province a few days ago, this report uses much less harsh language, which increases the already high expectations of Shandong Province’s further capacity cuts.