Tough times for China’s non-ferrous industry

Asia – China’s so-called ‘new normal’ economy has tempered the country’s fast-growing metals production, it was highlighted by the China Metals Recycling Association (CMRA) at its latest convention in Ningbo.

For the first nine months of 2015, China’s secondary aluminium output was up 5.5% and lead was up 15% whereas its secondary copper production dropped 7.1% year on year, reports trade magazine Recycling Today based on figures presented by Ren Xudong, executive vice president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA). ‘Prices are in a downturn both at home and abroad,’ he also told delegates.

The secondary non-ferrous sector was ‘important to help establish the green, low-carbon system China is aiming for, but companies will have to check out their own opportunities’, he continued. ‘We need to be confident and take measures to look for new areas of growth in this industry.’

CMRA’s vice president and secretary general Wang Jiwei underlined that the ‘new normal’ of slower economic growth in China had made 2015 a difficult year for producers, with ‘capacity rates of some enterprises being less than 50%’.