Rapid development of China's aluminium industry started in 1978 when a sudden surge of demands for aluminium products occurred as soon as the country's economic reform programme was launched. Over a period of 32 years, the development has largely been sustained, being ahead of China's annual GDP growth of 10% on average. In recent years, China has become the largest aluminium producing and consuming country in the world, accounting for about a third of the world's totals. The sustained growth of China's aluminium industry has been mainly driven by the increasing domestic market demands, attributed to the rapid economic development, first in China's coastal regions and in recent years in the western and central regions with over 50% of China's population. The strong trend of urbanisation has had and will continue to have fundamental implications for the end-user markets of aluminium products for building and construction, transport, electric engineering, machinery, electronic appliances and consumer goods. By the end of 2008, China's urbanisation rate reached a level of 45.7%. It is estimated that the urban population will reach 52,3% by 2015,57.7% by 2020 and 67.8% by 2030. Considering the total population of 1.341 billion people by the end of 2010, the further development of the central and western regions as well as overall urbanisation in the forthcoming years will create huge market demands. To meet these demands, China's aluminium industry will continue to grow for many years to come. In the meantime, ample business opportunities will open up to home and global equipment suppliers. China's aluminium community will work together with the international community to take up the common challenges of improving operating energy efficiency and promoting the use of aluminium as an energy-saving material across a wide range of areas.
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