Tsingshan seeks LME listing for Indonesian aluminum

China’s Tsingshan Holding Group has applied for aluminum from its Hua Chin smelting joint venture in Indonesia to be deliverable on the London Metal Exchange, a notice from the bourse showed on Thursday.

If accepted, Hua Chin, where Tsingshan is partnered by fellow Chinese firm Huafon Group, would become only the second Indonesian high-grade primary aluminum brand to be accepted by the LME after that of state-owned Inalum.

The application comes as Indonesia ramps up production and exports of aluminum, potentially offsetting shortages caused by the war in the Middle East.

The second phase of Hua Chin, located on the island of Sulawesi, started up this year; the project has annual capacity of 480,000 metric tons of aluminum ingots, according to the LME notice.

Tsingshan is best known as the world’s biggest nickel producer; nickel cathodes produced by its Indonesian affiliate PT Eternal Nickel Industry are deliverable against the LME’s nickel contract.

(By Tom Daly and Dylan Duan; Editing by Mark Potter)