The emergence of China as a global economic force has influenced the technical enterprise generally and a number of industries specifically. The aluminum industry is an example, with effects on consumption and demand as well as production and supply. The aluminum industry is one that has been greatly influenced and serves as a useful example of industrial impacts generally.

In aluminum  industry , according to the  Aluminum Assocation on its Aluminum Statistical Review 2002,  the apparent consumption of aluminum in China was 4.29 million tonnes (Mt) in 2002, making it second only to the United States at 8.45 Mt. Consumption is forecast to grow  Mt/y in 2020. The per-capita consumption in China in 2002 was 3.4 kg per person per year. This compares with values of 29.3 kg per person per year in the United States, 27.9 kg per person per year in Japan, and 28.2 kg per person per year in Canada. The Chinese market is more heavily weighted toward building and construction and substantially less toward packaging.

 Globalization of the primary  aluminum industry has been underway since the 1950s. China has been a significant part of this process in the last decade,  particularly in the last few years .