CMRA 2010 Forum: An Industry Gaining Strength

The statistics portraying China’s metals production growth only tell part of the story, according to a speaker at the 2010 China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Branch (CMRA) forum in Ningbo, China.

At the same time that production of aluminum and zinc has been climbing, energy consumption in those sectors has actually declined, said Shang Fushan, vice president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).

Shang also credited producers of copper and aluminum with diversifying their range of products, such as one aluminum company that has pioneered China’s production of a “super-thin foil.”
China’s aluminum industry is also developing a better capability to produce high-end aluminum alloys used in the automotive and rail industries, said Shang.

China’s “resource reservoir” has continued to grow, said Shang. He estimated that China now has some 77 million tons of copper in various forms at its disposal, and it is working with overseas suppliers in nations such as Zambia, Afghanistan and Canada to continue to boost that reservoir.

“The elimination of backward technologies” will remain a priority, said Shang, who noted that some producers of lead and zinc in particular have to overcome a “green barrier” if they wish to stay in business.

Shang said China’s 12th Five-Year Plan and the nation’s Circular Economy agenda will work in tandem to support energy-efficient, environmentally sound facilities and put pressure on the others. “All lagging production capacities will be eliminated,” he stated.

Wang Gongmin, president of the CMRA, also pointed to the Circular Economy initiative as one that will bolster “the recycling of resources and metal [and] the urban mining industry.”

He told attendees, “We will move forward with the construction of Circular Economy pilot projects, urban mineral pilot sites and recycling systems [for] renewable resources. Subsequently, we will build an efficient recycling system of renewable resources with a rational layout.”

The CMRA 10th Secondary Metals International Forum was Nov. 7-9 at the Shangri-La Hotel Ningbo in China.