Page 21 from: December 2010

21December 2010

Developed-world techniques
Change was definitely in the air, especially in a

record-breaking exhibition area for the CMRA

event where 50 exhibitors spread machinery and

technology exhibits over a space that covered

nearly 5000 square metres. To be sure, the vast

labour forces that have long dominated the

image and the reality of China’s scrap business

will continue to play a role, but there was little

question that the Chinese industry is beginning

to adapt developed-world processing techniques.

Indeed, in the conference hall, organisers pre-

sented for the first time a Metals Industry Tech-

nology and Equipment Summit at which key

scrap industry advisors to the government out-

lined future technology upgrades to the industry.

In large part, mechanical and technical changes

to China’s scrap yards are coming on the heels

of several years of preparation for the country’s

next Five Year Plan. Due in 2011, this will

include a carefully researched and written sec-

tion that raises secondary materials to the level

of a strategic industry on a par with steel, oil,

defence and other enterprises considered key to

Chinese national security and social stability.

Game-changing information
For years, CMRA’s President Wang Gongmin

has provided the most important and engaging

speech at the conference. Typically, in fact, he

provides two speeches: the first is the one print-

ed in the conference book, filled with authorita-

tive statistics and regulatory information; the

second is the one he delivers to the forum itself,

using the printed text as a jumping-off point for

wider discussion of crucial issues. This year, he

repeated that pattern and provided critical, even

game-changing information in both addresses.

On the written side, Mr Wang revealed that,

from January to September 2010, gross output

of Chinese non-ferrous metals was 5.55 million

tonnes (+17% compared to the same period in

2009), with secondary copper accounting for

1.75 million tonnes (+17%), secondary alu-

minium 2.82 million tonnes (+22%) and sec-

ondary lead 980 000 tonnes (+6%). Mr Wang

expects total 2010 secondary non-ferrous metal

output to reach 7.2 million tonnes. ‘This

exceeds the total amount of non-ferrous metal

generated in China ten years ago,’ he noted.

He also revealed that non-ferrous scrap imports

grew 11.6% year on year in reaching 5.37 mil-

lion tonnes for the first three quarters of 2010,

with copper-bearing scrap imports reaching

3.22 million tonnes (+7.7%) and aluminium

scrap 2.15 million tonnes (+18%). Unlike in

past years, no figures were provided on lead

imports because ‘it’s not allowed for import’,

Mr Wang noted. Away from his prepared text,

he pointed to increasingly steep competition

from India and South East Asia as the cause of

higher prices in general. And he cited oversup-

ply and excess production capacity for keeping

the aluminium price relatively low.

More recycling parks
Mr Wang’s printed speech approvingly referred

to the industry’s on-going consolidation, point-

ing out that there are now ‘more than 20 resource

recycling parks across China where imported

and domestic recyclables are processed’. Mr

Wang named six additional parks currently

under construction or in the planning stage, and

mentioned that – as China’s economic develop-

ment moves into the country’s Western frontier

– parks would be established in the remote and

politically-sensitive Xinjiang and Tibet prov-

inces, respectively. ‘These parks serve as the

material supply base for the secondary non-

ferrous metal industry,’ his written speech noted.

The development across the country of several

non-ferrous facilities with capacities in excess of

100 000 tonnes per year represents a net positive

for the industry, according to Mr Wang. Total

investment is hard to figure, he said, ‘but it’s big’.

Most surprising among the batch of enterprises

he mentioned were significant lead recycling

operations, including an under-construction

lead-acid battery recycling facility owned by

Guangdong Jianghang Storage Battery that, when

completed, will have the capacity to process 300

000 tonnes per year. According to Mr Wang, the

growth of China’s world-beating automobile

industry necessitates immediate technological

upgrades to China’s lead recyclers. And for now,

much of that technology will be imported.

‘We will eliminate enterprises’
However, without question, the most startling

moment in Mr Wang’s spoken speech occurred

as he was transitioning between comments on

the on-going consolidation of the industry into

a lengthy soliloquy on new regulations. Pausing,

he glared at the mostly-Chinese crowd, saying:

‘Please wake up. I’m going to raise my voice.

Okay? We will concentrate the industry. If you

don’t have environmental and energy-saving

equipment, you will be eliminated. We will

eliminate enterprises. If you don’t fit into the

requirements, you will be eliminated.’

Mr Wang only spoke generally about the kinds

of energy and environmental technology that

he and other top-level regulators are seeking. To

an extent, this is by design: Mr Wang is one of

the drafters of the secondary materials section

of the forthcoming 12th Five Year Plan covering

2011-2015, and Five Year plans contain specific

production goals and only general statements

on the means to achieve them. So, according to

Mr Wang’s written text, annual secondary non-

ferrous metal production shall reach 11.1 mil-

lion tonnes by 2015, with copper contributing

3.6 million tonnes, aluminium 5.8 million

tonnes and lead 1.2 million tonnes.

Mr Wang was clear that the secondary non-

ferrous metals industry is going to have a key

role in helping to develop China’s ‘circular’ – or,

rather, sustainable – economy via technology

investments and subsequent requirements in

environmental and energy-saving technologies

that would serve to raise the barriers to enter

CMRA President Wang Gongmin.

Zhou Bingyan, Associate Resear-
cher with the China Academy of
Environmental Sciences.

Shang Fushan, Vice-President of
the China Non-ferrous Metals
Industry Association.

Li Xinmin, an Inspector with the
Department of Pollution Preven-
tion and Control at the Ministry
of Environmental Protection.

‘If you don’t fit into
our requirements, you

will be eliminated.’

p20 in .indd 21 03-12-10 0 :38