On October 30, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association held a press conference via video on the economic performance of the nonferrous metals industry in the first three quarters. Chen Xuesen, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Vice President and Spokesperson of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, reported on the economic performance of the nonferrous metals industry in the first three quarters and answered questions from media reporters and business representatives.
Chen Xuesen said that in the first three quarters, faced with the complex and severe international environment and the world economic situation with sluggish economic recovery, my country's nonferrous metals industry and enterprises, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, conscientiously implemented the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council Deployment, focusing on the primary task of stable growth of the industry, actively resolves the impact of factors such as declining exports, slowing down traditional consumption, rising costs, falling prices, etc. on the operation of the industry. Overall, the development quality of my country's nonferrous metals industry has steadily improved, and the trend of stability and improvement in the third quarter has become more obvious.
In the first three quarters, the cumulative industrial added value of nonferrous metal enterprises above designated size increased by 6.2% year-on-year, an increase of 1.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year, and 2.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of industrial added value of enterprises above designated size nationwide. Among them, non-ferrous smelting and rolling processing contributed significantly to industrial added value, with an increase of 7.8% in the first three quarters, which was 1.6 percentage points higher than the increase in industrial added value of non-ferrous metal enterprises above designated size.
The operating characteristics of the nonferrous metal industry in the first three quarters are specifically reflected in the following five aspects: First, output grew steadily and rapidly. In the third quarter, the output of ten commonly used nonferrous metals was 18.637 million tons, an increase of 351,000 tons from the output of 18.286 million tons in the second quarter. In the first three quarters, the output of ten commonly used nonferrous metals was 55.017 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.8% on a comparable basis; the capacity utilization rate of the nonferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry was 79.4%, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year, and an increase from the first half of this year. 0.4 percentage points, 3.8 percentage points higher than the national industrial capacity utilization rate in the same period this year.
Second, the growth rate of fixed asset investment is higher than the national industrial level. In the first three quarters, the fixed asset investment completed by the nonferrous metal industry increased by 14.1% compared with the same period last year. The growth rate expanded by 1.7 percentage points from the first half of the year and was 5.1 percentage points higher than the national industrial investment. Among them, the fixed asset investment completed by nonferrous metal mine mining and processing increased by 34.3%. , smelting, rolling and processing completed fixed asset investment increased by 9.9%. Since the beginning of this year, investment in high-tech metal materials required for photovoltaics, wind power, lithium batteries, new energy vehicles, etc. and investment in non-ferrous metal mines have increased significantly, which is an important factor driving the growth of fixed asset investment in the non-ferrous metal industry.
Third, the import of non-ferrous metal raw materials continued to grow in the first three quarters, and the export volume of aluminum materials and other products decreased year-on-year, but increased quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter. In the first three quarters, my country's nonferrous metal import and export trade totaled US$250.71 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.3% on a comparable basis. Among them, the import value was US$205.29 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%; the export value was US$45.42 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 12.5%.
Fourth, the price increases and decreases of major non-ferrous metal varieties varied significantly. Copper prices turned from falling to rising. In the domestic spot market, the average copper price in the third quarter was 69,009 yuan/ton, an increase of 2.3% from the previous quarter, and a year-on-year increase of 13.2%; the average copper price in the first three quarters was 68,311 yuan/ton, a year-on-year increase of 0.2% from a 1.0% decrease in the first eight months. . The decline in aluminum prices narrowed. In the domestic spot market, the average aluminum price in the third quarter was 18,822 yuan/ton, an increase of 1.5% from the previous quarter, and a year-on-year increase of 2.4%; the average aluminum price in the first three quarters was 18,618 yuan/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 8.8%, and the decline was 4.8 percentage points narrower than the first half of the year. Industrial silicon prices fell. In the domestic spot market, the average price of industrial silicon in the third quarter was 14,276 yuan/ton, a decrease of 3.8% from the previous quarter, and a year-on-year decrease of 27.6%; the average price of industrial silicon in the first three quarters was 15,675 yuan/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 21.8%, and the decline was 2.7 percentage points larger than that in the first half of the year. . The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has dropped significantly. In the domestic spot market, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in the third quarter was 240,000 yuan/ton, down 6.0% from the previous quarter and 51.9% year-on-year. In the first three quarters, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was 301,000 yuan/ton, down 36.4% year-on-year. It expanded by 8.2 percentage points in the first half of the year.
Fifth, the profit decline of nonferrous metal enterprises above designated size continued to narrow in the first three quarters, but the decline was still greater than that of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide. In the third quarter, nonferrous metal industrial enterprises above designated size achieved a profit of 86.67 billion yuan, an increase of 19.02 billion yuan or 28.1% from the profit of 67.65 billion yuan in the second quarter; an increase of 41.65 billion yuan or 92.5% from the profit of 44.93 billion yuan in the third quarter of last year. In the first three quarters, 10,560 nonferrous metal industrial enterprises above designated size achieved a total profit of 208.53 billion yuan, down 10.4% from the same period last year. The decline was 24.7 percentage points narrower than the first half of the year and 35 percentage points narrower than the first quarter. It was still greater than that of large-scale enterprises nationwide. Industrial enterprises fell by 1.3 percentage points. Among them, independent mining companies realized profits of 57.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%; smelting companies realized profits of 98.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.2%; processing companies realized profits of 52.57 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%.
Chen Xuesen said that in the face of the current domestic and international economic situation, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and nonferrous metals enterprises have conscientiously implemented the "Work Plan for Stable Growth of the Nonferrous Metals Industry" jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other ministries, and solidly promoted the nonferrous metals industry to maintain stability. develop.
Based on the judgment of the macroeconomic environment, especially the analysis of the operating characteristics of the domestic and foreign nonferrous metals industries this year, combined with various prosperity index reports issued by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, on the premise that no "black swan" event occurs, the The main indicators of the non-ferrous metal industry in the fourth quarter and the whole year of 2023 are judged as follows: non-ferrous metal industrial production and investment continue to maintain growth momentum, the prices of major non-ferrous metals are expected to maintain a volatile trend at the current price, and the benefits of non-ferrous metal enterprises above designated size are expected to further improve. According to monthly report statistics, in 2023, the growth rate of the added value of the non-ferrous metal industry and the growth rate of the output of ten commonly used non-ferrous metals are expected to be around 6%; the growth rate of fixed asset investment in the non-ferrous metal industry is expected to remain around 10%; the import of mining raw materials such as copper and aluminum It is expected to maintain growth, and the decline in exports of unwrought aluminum and aluminum materials is expected to slow down; the price decline of major nonferrous metals has further narrowed, and the average annual price of some metal varieties is expected to be the same as the previous year or slightly increase; nonferrous metal enterprises above designated size have achieved total profits It is expected to reach or even exceed 300 billion yuan.
