China may be mining less coal and pumping less crude but it’s processing more raw materials than ever in its mills, refineries and smelters. Cost pressures and environmental regulation curbed domestic crude and coal output last year while economic stimulus propelled steel making, aluminum smelting and oil refining to record levels. The outlook for 2017 depends on the pace of supply-side reforms aimed at shifting away from heavy industry to a consumer-led economy, according to Susan Gao, head of consulting at CRU Group in China. Aluminum makers ramped up output as government stimulus boosted demand, lifting prices and profits, and as new or idled smelters came online. After exports slowed for the first time in four years, shipments of aluminum are set to rise again in 2017, according to consultant SMM Information & Technology Co. That may set up trade friction with the incoming U.S. presidential administration of Donald […]