Producer
China Hongqiao Group
China's largest aluminum producer (private); sources bauxite from Guinea and Indonesia; operates integrated bauxite mines (Guinea operations via Winning Consortium) through parent Shandong Weiqiao; ~10% of global aluminum output
4
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
1
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
4 inputs China Hongqiao Group supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something China Hongqiao Group makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Primary Aluminum Smelting
50%Alumina Refining
22%Bauxite Mining (Guinea — SMB Winning)
15%Captive Power Generation (Coal + Hydro)
8%Gallium Recovery (Critical Mineral Byproduct)
5%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
China Hongqiao Group — the world's largest private aluminum producer — is also an unheralded major producer of gallium, the critical mineral used in GaN (gallium nitride) semiconductors for 5G base stations, radar systems, and EV power electronics. Gallium is not mined directly; it is extracted from the Bayer process liquor that flows through every alumina refinery. At approximately 0.1 kg gallium per metric ton of aluminum, Hongqiao's ~5.7M MT/year production implies potential gallium recovery of 500-600 metric tons annually. China produces ~80% of global gallium (and Hongqiao is one of China's largest aluminum producers). When China imposed export controls on gallium in August 2023 — requiring export licenses — it was exercising leverage that flows directly from its aluminum industry dominance, not from any dedicated gallium mine. The same vertically integrated aluminum company that builds EV body panels is a critical contributor to China's chokehold on the semiconductors that power EV inverters.
US Geological Survey ↗Capacity2023
China Hongqiao Group's Guinea bauxite supply (through SMB Winning consortium) represents a single-country concentration risk for global aluminum. Guinea holds approximately 25% of the world's proven bauxite reserves — the highest concentration in any country. The September 2021 military coup in Guinea by Col. Mamadi Doumbouya temporarily disrupted SMB Winning operations and triggered immediate aluminum price increases. As of 2024, Guinea supplies roughly 20-25% of global traded bauxite. Chinese companies (Hongqiao/Winning, Chalco, Henan Shenhuo) have invested heavily in Guinea mining, creating both supply security for Chinese aluminum AND a geopolitical chokepoint: if Guinea's government nationalized mining assets, raised export taxes, or redirected exports, global aluminum supply and prices would be significantly affected.
SMB Winning Consortium ↗Origin2023
China Hongqiao Group was founded by Zhang Shiping in 1994 in Zouping, Shandong as a textile company. Zhang pivoted to aluminum in 2001 by building a small smelter and proceeded to grow explosively by building captive coal-fired power plants on his factory grounds — using unregistered electricity to undercut the national grid price that state-owned smelters paid. This 'captive coal power + vertical integration' strategy made Hongqiao the world's lowest-cost aluminum producer and allowed rapid expansion to become China's largest private aluminum company within a decade. By 2017, regulators discovered ~5-6 GW of coal power capacity operating without licenses. Zhang agreed to shut down or regularize the plants. By then, Hongqiao had also moved to secure Guinea bauxite supply through the Winning Consortium, making it one of the most vertically integrated private industrial companies in the world: Guinea bauxite → Shandong refining → Shandong smelting → Chinese industrial markets.
China Hongqiao Group Ltd. ↗