Page 53 from: March 2016

53March 2016

as solid waste. This is particularly important at
the moment as 2016 is a year of AQSIQ licence
renewals.
And of course, we are also looking to vary the
programme that’s on offer at our twice-yearly
divisional meetings: in Prague last October, for
example, we turned the spotlight on lead and
zinc rather than concentrate – as we normally
do – on copper and aluminium. What we offer
at these meetings is very important if we want to
continue to attract big attendances. It was good
to see that around 900 delegates attended the
Prague Convention despite the bad economic
and business climate. I would suggest this shows
the BIR is doing a good job of continuing to
make the convention programmes relevant and
attractive.’

You mention copper and aluminium, the
two metals which remain the point of
focus for perhaps the majority of your
division’s members. There is something
on the horizon specifically for them,
isn’t there?
‘Yes, several years ago our division commis-
sioned experts at CRU Strategies, a division
of CRU International, to prepare the report
“Global non-ferrous scrap flows 2000-2011”,
particularly focusing on copper and alumin-
ium. This was very well received not only by
members but also by other relevant organisa-
tions which saw copies of the report. But of
course, it is important to refresh such data and
so we will shortly release another study that
will demonstrate once again the importance of

recycling aluminium and copper in the metals
industries.’

What is your take on current market
conditions for the non-ferrous sector
and do you see any encouraging signs?
‘It has certainly been a rough period for our
sector, as for most other commodities, and the
decelerating Chinese economy is contributing
most of all to this. In the final three months of
last year, China’s GDP growth was the lowest
for any quarter since 2009 at 6.8% while growth
of 6.3% is projected for 2016. India has now
overtaken China as the fastest-growing large
economy but, in truth, no country can replace
China’s raw material needs of recent years. So
if the slowdown in China continues, we will
continue to feel the effects.
After 2008, confidence levels faded in almost
everything: consumers lost confidence in the
markets; suppliers lost confidence among their
customers; and customers lost confidence in
suppliers’ quality. I think this lack of confidence
is the key to what we are still seeing right now
and to this really pessimistic view from our
industry.
As for encouraging signs for business in the cur-
rent climate, that’s a tough question to answer. I
suppose I would say that with unit prices drop-
ping to this lower level, the financing pressures
on our business are much lower than they were
before.’

What are your main interests outside of
recycling?
‘I love playing golf. It is so much like business
management: first of all, don’t get into a haz-
ard; but if you are unfortunate enough to find
yourself in a hazard, just focus on getting out
of that hazard and move on. I love cooking too.
Chinese teacher and philosopher Confucius
said: “Managing a big country is just like man-
aging a kitchen.” I guess managing a business
and managing a kitchen are alike too.’

If you had a free day and a bottomless
budget, what would you choose to do
with the time?
‘I have never thought about it before. I think I
would probably like to do something rewarding
like travel with a “doctor without borders” or
deliver meals to the lonely or elderly.’

David Chiao: managing the non-ferrous ‘kitchen’