Monthly Archives: April 2014
The AZ China office is closed today and tomorrow, for the national Labour Day holidays.
In typical Chinese style, the government has added Friday May 2 to the holiday, but declared Sunday May 4 a normal working day.
Those of you who may have last minute business relating to the conference, please feel free to email us at enquiries@az-china.com. We are checking incoming mail, and will try to address your needs as quickly as possible.
The office will be open on Sunday May 4.
However, please also note that all of us will be at the conference from Monday through to Wednesday, and back in the office on Thursday May 8. We will be checking emails during the breaks at the conference, but our ability to respond quickly to some requests may be a little limited.
The best way to raise any questions or talk to AZ China staff is to look for them at the conference. You will be able to recognise AZ staff from their uniforms.
We all are looking forward to seeing you at the Sofitel Beijing next Monday.
I am in the lucky position of having seen most of the papers that will be presented at the AZ China International Aluminium and Carbon conference next week.
I have to say, the papers I have seen (I have seen all but 4) are excellent. Those of you who are attending next week are in for an excellent conference. Or if you are planning on meeting clients/suppliers during one or other of the papers, you have a difficult choice - they are not to be missed.
I look forward to seeing all of you next week at the Sofitel.
Continuing with our analysis on China aluminium production, we spot daily output in March falling again as it has since 2009. But is this drop because of statistical anomaliess like previous years or because of idled smelters?
As we discussed in another blog (February production shrunk? Don’t worry!), China aluminium daily production grows strongly in February but declines in March converging to January’s level. This is an artificial distortion, which we think is related to a reluctance to fully report in the months running into the end of the year. Then with Chinese New Year falling usually in February (for at least part of the holiday), smelters think they can catch-up report production.
However, when we turn to 2014, things have changed, even though daily output following the same trend. According to our Pipeline Report (formerly known as the Births, Deaths and Marriages Report), 905Kt capacity is declared to be closed or idled in March. Let us simply assume the production is closed since the beginning of the month (which is not accurate but reflecting the rough number), the daily output reduction is about 2.433Kt which is quite near the statistical result 2.156Kt comparing March to February. In conclusion, the shrink happened in March is quite possibly due to the real curtailment rather than the manipulated statistical data.
If our argument is correct logically, we would say China is now changing its method on aluminium production statistics, perhaps benefiting from applying tiered power price which requires more accurate data to be implemented. However, this can only be verified till we see more data points reflecting a true position, not an artificially contrived one.
We will keep focusing on the relevant data and update you our latest findings. For more information about subscribing to our Pipeline Report, please contact us at AZ China.
We’re so pleased to have RainCII as a sponsor again this year. They will be providing each conference attendee with an item that most of us use every day. Ipad? Post-it notes? A Google Translation App? (Perhaps, I’m the only one who uses the latter that frequently!) Join us May 5 in Beijing to find out.
Rain CII is a well-established, industry-focused leader and producer of calcined petroleum coke. However, when it comes to company recognition outside of this industry, Rain CII CEO, Gerry Sweeney plainly says, “Most people have never heard of Rain CII, nor do they know why carbon is so important. We aren’t concerned about notoriety. Our pride and passion are in turning green petroleum coke – a byproduct of the oil-refining process – into aluminum, one of our society’s most indispensable metals. We never stop developing innovative new processes, helping customers and suppliers solve problems and working with partners to maximize efficiency and profits. None of this would be possible, of course, without our employees.”
Rain CII creates three primary products:
- Calcined delayed coke used by primary aluminum producers for anode manufacture (80% of their output).
- Calcined delayed coke for titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment manufacture or other industrial application (15% of their output).
- Calcined fluid coke used as a packing material in anode baking furnaces, cathodic protection applications, or other specialty applications.
Their products are critical elements in the production of two important materials widely used in today’s society: aluminum and titanium dioxide.
In 2013, Rain CII acquired The Rütgers Group, a Belgium-based and historic coal tar pitch and chemical manufacturer. Together, Rain and Rütgers are working to build the better anode. “We’re proud of our roles in the industries we serve, exciting about our partnership, and take seriously our commitment to innovation.”
China’s National People’s Congress last month adopted a revised Environment Protection Law which is set to go into force January 1st, 2015.
The new law includes 23 new clauses and becomes much stricter than the previous edition. The new law authorises the Environmental Protection department various legal rights to protect the environment, by sealing up or detaining illegal sewage directly. It also constrains local government’s right on approving new projects, by allocating emissions quotas. Another key clause is about punishments for violating this law, with violators to be fined on a daily basis until the problem is fixed, with no ceiling on the number of days that can accumulate.
Even though this Environment Protection Law doesn’t clarify the details on implementation approach, it is signaling that China becomes more serious on environment protection. Therefore, let’s look at how it will impact China’s aluminium and carbon industry.
First, new aluminium smelters, being power intensive enterprises, will seldom be approved, especially under a market glut as of today.
Second, more clean energy will be applied, which means China will rely less on coal and crude oil with natural gas, nuclear and other alternative energy sources taking a bigger role. If this transition occurs, sweeter and lighter crude oil will become more popular , so although we will still see some very good cokes, the volume will fall. The increased use of hydro treating will make this worse.
Third, along with China’s energy structure reforming, coal will lose its position gradually. An import tariff on coal will very possibly be levied which will also includes an increase on import petcoke tariff. Since then, we would see a decline of imported petcoke from North America or somewhere else which may drive petcoke prices down.
Perhaps the law itself, doesn’t impact the industry directly, but after linking with energy restructure, metal industry consolidation, trade barrier together, I would say it does impact severely.
DQ Carbon has been a strong supporter of the AZ China International Aluminium & Carbon Conference for several conferences now. Their company has been expanding over the years and now has offices in several countries around the globe.
China Daqing Gaoxin International Industry and Trading Co., Ltd. is an industrial and trading company with HQ located in Daqing Сity, Heilongjiang province. The company was founded in January 2005 , and has multiple branches in China: Nanjing, Xinjiang, Dongying (Shandong province), Dalian (Liaoning province), Manzhouli (Inner Mongolia), SuiFenHe ( Heilongjiang province) as well as international locations such as Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Moscow, and Turkmenistan. The company’s business center is located in Beijing where the Petroleum Coke Department, Coal Department, Minerals Department, Oil Department and Chemical Department were all established.
The company’s main trading products are: Petroleum Coke, Calcined Petroleum Coke, Coal-tar Pitch, Aluminum Anode, Graphite Electrodes, Aluminum Fluoride, Caustic Soda, Coal and Sulfur, Heavy Oil, Base Oil and other fine chemical products. They like to stay busy!
DQ cooperates with PETROCHINA, SINOPEC, CNOOC and other small independent refineries in Shandong, Hubei, Jiangsu province of China and oil companies in the United States, Brazil and the Black Sea region. They have stable supply of Green Petroleum Coke, Calcined Petroleum Coke and Coal tar Pitch.
DQ has an unique advantage in logistics and warehousing, and also have their own storage center for Green petroleum coke in Bayuquan Port, Rizhao Port, Nanjing Port, Fangcheng Port, Huanghua Port and other important export ports of China. Green coke distribution centers are located in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Shandong, Henan, Hongqing, Liaoning provinces. They also have long-term cooperation with shipping companies, dedicated rail lines and warehouses which can provide flexible modes of transportation.
We’re excited to have a brand new Chinese sponsor this year, Qingxin Carbon.
CPI Ningxia Energy Aluminum Qingxin Carbon Co.,Ltd. (QXC) is a member of the China Carbon Association and the drafter of cathode carbon technical standards for the National Administration of Light Industry Standards Committee. QXC is one of China’s largest cathode block manufacturers, specializing in producing and researching cathode blocks used in aluminum smelters. The company was established in October 1999. The Company owns two separate production lines of graphitic products and graphitized products, and each production line has 20,000 tons of production capacity. According to different customers’ preferences for the shape, they produce cathodes either by vibration machine imported from Outotec or use a domestic extrusion machine from a Shanghai heavy machinery plant. With the use of modern production equipment and advanced production technology, the company has reached production capacity of 40,000 tons of cathode products used for aluminum smelter.
QXC joined into China Power Investment Corporation (CPIC) which is one of the five biggest Power suppliers of China in 2009, now QXC is one of 3 subsidiary companies of the CPIC group. QXC has passed the GB/T24001-2004/ISO14001:2004 Environmental Management System, the GB/T28001-2001 OHSAS, and the GB/T19001-2008/ISO9001:2008 Quality Management System and has acquired the related certificates in 2006. QXC was named one of the nations’s new technology enterprises in 2009.
At present they supply following products to aluminum plants: graphitized cathode block, graphitic cathode block, different grade graphite added blocks, sidewall/corner blocks, ramming paste and carbon glue such lining material and so on. The green blocks size scope is from 425×425×3700～4200 mm to 750×590×3700～4200mm.
GXC exports to a number of countries all around the world.
Koppers was a sponsor for our 2008 conference in Sanya. We’re glad to have them back again this year!
Koppers is a leading integrated producer of carbon compounds and treated wood products for the aluminum, steel, chemical, rubber, railroad, and utility industries. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Koppers has multiple manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, The Netherlands, Australia, and China.
Carbon Materials and Chemicals
Koppers carbon materials and chemicals are essential to the production of aluminum, steel, plastics, resins, treated wood, and rubber products. In addition, the carbon materials and chemicals also increase the durability of many products including railroad ties, utility and transmission poles, and marine pilings.
As a leading distiller of coal tar, a by-product of the transformation of coal into coke, Koppers produces carbon pitch, refined tar, creosote, carbon black feedstock and chemical oils. The chemical oils resulting from distillation are used to produce naphthalene and phthalic anhydride (PAA).
Learn More
How are Koppers Products Used?
It all starts with coal.
Coal is carbonized to make coke and Koppers purchases a by-product of Coke-Coal tar. Koppers distills the coal tar and manufactures carbon materials and chemicals that are essential to the aluminum, steel, paint, plastic, wood-preserving, and carbon black industries.
The products from the coal tar distillation also increase the durability of products such asrailroad ties and utility poles.
The chart below illustrates how Koppers manufactures materials from coal tar as well as the industries that rely on Koppers products to manufacture other goods and services that are needed worldwide.
Make sure to say hi to the Bathco team at the May 5-7 conference!
Bath Material is the electrolyte used in the Hall-Héroult process to produce primary aluminium. It’s also known as Secondary Cryolite, Crushed Bath, Bath Cryolite, Pure Bath, Bath and tapped Bath Material.
During the aluminium smelting process, surplus Bath Material can be generated because of high Sodium (Na) content in the alumina. This surplus is tapped in a liquid form and then crushed to be reused to start up new pots or to compensate for electrolyte losses.
Bath Material can also be used in aluminium scrap recycling as well as in a number of other processes such as in the manufacture of glass, steel, enamel, ceramics and more.
The global supplier of Bath Material
Bathco is the only company in the world dedicated exclusively to the Bath Material market. Bathco collaborates with a large community of smelters that sell their surplus Bath and can also provide various other quality levels of Bath including Bath with higher Alumina content.
Contact them with your specifications at info@bathco.ch
With the conference fast approaching, we’d like you to get acquainted with some of the good people who make it all possible: our sponsors.
Today we’ll introduce you to Aminco Anodes, the leading producer of precision-engineered, cost effective and energy efficient carbon anodes.
Smelters of all sizes partner with Aminco to supply their carbon anodes. Aminco Anodes have Swiss engineering and Chinese manufacturing ensuring they are high-quality anodes providing the best cost-benefit characteristics in the industry. Aminco Anodes focuses on meeting the intellectual capital and technical support needs of their exclusive suppliers and customers and from our personal experience, they provide excellent customer and customized services.
You will need a special code for certain aspect of the conference so if you are attending remember the password “amincoanodes”.
How do I get in touch with Aminco? You can contact them directly here and read more about them here.
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