Analysis of Aluminum Resource Supply Structure and Guarantee Degree in China Based on Sustainable Perspective
College of Management Science, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Vincenzo Torretta
Sustainability 2016, 8(12), 1335; https://doi.org/10.3390/su8121335
Received: 17 October 2016
/
Revised: 7 December 2016
/
Accepted: 12 December 2016
/
Published: 17 December 2016
(This article belongs to the Section Environmental Sustainability and Applications)
Aluminum is a strategic mineral resource, and China’s aluminum production and consumption is fairly large. However, its supply guarantee is uncertain because of a high dependency on external raw materials. This uncertainty may expand, so finding a way to reduce the uncertainty of aluminum resource supply is especially important. This paper applies the SFA method to analyze the aluminum flows in mainland China from 1996 to 2014, and establishes a supply structure model to measure its supply guarantee degree. The results claim that: (1) China’s aluminum production can satisfy demand and even create a surplus; (2) Domestic self-productive primary and secondary aluminum increased at an annual rate of 12% and 24%; (3) The proportion of self-productive secondary aluminum in the supply structure increased from 7.7% in 1996 to 12.8% in 2014, while that of primary aluminum decreased from 79.6% to 42.8%; (4) The total supply guarantee degree decreased from 87.3% to 55.6% in this period. These results provide a feasible way to solve this plight: the proportion of secondary aluminum in the supply structure should be enhanced, and an efficient aluminum resource recycling system needs to be established as soon as possible to ensure its sustainable supply.
View Full-Text
▼
Show Figures
Graphical abstract
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Liu, S.; Li, X.; Wang, M. Analysis of Aluminum Resource Supply Structure and Guarantee Degree in China Based on Sustainable Perspective. Sustainability 2016, 8, 1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8121335
AMA Style
Liu S, Li X, Wang M. Analysis of Aluminum Resource Supply Structure and Guarantee Degree in China Based on Sustainable Perspective. Sustainability. 2016; 8(12):1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8121335
Chicago/Turabian StyleLiu, Shaoli, Xin Li, and Minxi Wang. 2016. "Analysis of Aluminum Resource Supply Structure and Guarantee Degree in China Based on Sustainable Perspective" Sustainability 8, no. 12: 1335. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8121335
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
