Magnesium Prices Soared At Home And Abroad: Beware Of Blind Investment Fever

Since May 2007, the price of magnesium ingots has gone up crazily, according to the current 30 thousand yuan per ton, compared with the 15 thousand yuan per ton at the beginning of last year, the increase is as high as 100%.

Some enterprises are deeply worried about the new round of investment fever, and suggest that the state introduce relevant policies to regulate the development of the metal magnesium industry and prevent the promotion and application of new energy saving materials due to price inflation.

The price of magnesium has led to an investment boom. According to the Ningxia metallurgical Commission, the production of magnesium enterprises in the country has reached about 500000 tons, 70% for export and 30% for domestic use.

Because of the increasing demand at home and abroad, the position of metal magnesium in the small metal may be changed.

Because of the promising market of metallic magnesium, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other enterprises in the surrounding areas or expanding the scale or the project of Ma da.

According to the general engineer of Ningxia Huayuan magnesium group, which is engaged in the magnesium industry for a long time, there are some impulses of rapid investment. Some of the 30 thousand tons and 50 thousand tons scale projects in Ningxia have already started to launch and invest in small quantities. The annual production capacity of magnesium in Shen Mu county is now 30 thousand tons, while the short-term goal is to increase the capacity to 200 thousand tons. The 100 thousand ton magnesium alloy project invested by Inner Mongolia North magnesium technology company in Shaanxi province has been built in Baotou.

Reporter survey found that price fluctuations have affected the application of magnesium, some of which used magnesium alloy products began to use aluminum alloy.

Some downstream manufacturers reflect that the price of metal magnesium is still acceptable at 22 thousand yuan per ton, and the high price will inevitably inhibit the application of magnesium alloy, and some foreign users are also in the wait-and-see state because of the soaring price.

At present, the price of metal magnesium has exceeded the expectation of some enterprises, because the cost per ton is 13 thousand yuan to 15 thousand yuan, and its profit rate has exceeded 100%, which is not what they want to see.

Some business executives told reporters that the metal magnesium industry should maintain a reasonable profit and reasonable price to prevent excessive price inflation and affect the continued use of downstream customers in the magnesium industry.

In view of the price rise in the past six months, the profit increase of magnesium smelting enterprises is obvious, but it also has a greater negative impact on the enterprises themselves.

First, the market is mainly based on spot trading, and the long term contracts are very few, which affect the production in a certain extent. Two, the plan of resuming production and putting into operation is emerging. The existing smelting enterprises in the market will soon be put on the agenda, and some have begun to put into operation, and some new assets have entered the magnesium smelting enterprises.

In addition, foreign consumption of metal magnesium fluctuates greatly, and exports begin to be affected when the price exceeds 23 thousand yuan per ton.

At present, foreign traders are still buying Chinese magnesium ingots in order to fulfill their original long-term contracts. However, with the increase of magnesium ingots to the existing level, some foreign traders have temporarily suspended the purchase of magnesium ingots.

The low threshold and heavy pollution restrict the healthy development of China's metal magnesium industry. Because the metal magnesium is much lighter than aluminum and steel, it has a wide range of uses. In line with the consideration of energy conservation and emission reduction, we should focus on supporting and developing the metal magnesium industry in the areas where conditions permit.

Niu Shuning, the head of Ningxia new technology extension station, said that the weight of magnesium is lighter than 1/3, and that where aluminum is used, magnesium can be used instead.

In recent years, due to the trend of lightweight, magnesium alloys have been widely used in motorcycles and automobiles. Steering wheel, airbag restraining devices and cylinder heads can be used to reduce the overall weight of automobiles, reduce gasoline consumption and exhaust emissions.

With a reduction of 10% in weight, the fuel consumption can be reduced by 6% to 8%.

In the interview, the reporter found that although metal magnesium is a new material with obvious energy saving advantages, the development of magnesium industry in China has been unhealthy because of the relatively backward smelting technology.

At present, China's metal magnesium enterprises basically use PI Jiang method. It is a production process which is reduced by calcined dolomite and ferrosilicon as reductant. Although this technology is low in investment, it can not be continuous production, high energy consumption per unit of output and serious environmental pollution, and the labor intensity of workers is very large.

In a number of metal magnesium enterprises in Ningxia, the reporter saw that some factories had poor production conditions, especially those produced by coal burning.

Wang Heping, chief engineer of Jin Yi Magnesium Industry Co., Ltd., Ningxia, said that the production of one ton of magnesium required 12 tons of bituminous coal by traditional technology. The annual output of 10 thousand tons of plants is more than 2300 tons and that of sulfur dioxide is nearly 600 tons. However, from the point of view of cost saving, this production mode is the most economical and practical.

At present, 70% of the world's magnesium is produced in China, mainly because China's magnesium is produced by PI Jiang process, with low cost and squeezed foreign large magnesium companies.

However, due to the backward process of PI Jiang, most domestic magnesium enterprises have small capacity and are not suitable for mass production.

The development of magnesium industry is conducive to energy saving and emission reduction. In the past 20 years, the investment of metal magnesium has started 4 times. When the price was the highest in 1995, it had reached 38 thousand yuan per ton.

But then the price fell to 12 thousand yuan, resulting in the closure of small and large enterprises.

Some large enterprises abroad have been afraid to change their spare parts into magnesium alloy products because of unstable production in Chinese enterprises.

If the traditional PI Jiang method is not eliminated, the existing metal magnesium production will not be able to support the whole market.

According to the Metallurgical Industry Office of Ningxia Economic Commission, the annual production capacity of magnesium in Ningxia reaches 120 thousand tons, and the production scale reaches second in the whole country. The output of the metal can reach 200 thousand tons in 2010.

Although the state does not have corresponding restrictions, in order to control the blind investment, the Ningxia Economic Commission has also taken corresponding measures. Under the factory with no more than 10 thousand tons of coal in Ningxia, the traditional coal burning technology is not allowed to go up, and it is preparing to eliminate small magnesium plants under 5000 tons.

For this reason, some enterprises and government staff suggest that the state should formulate certain production standards for metal magnesium production enterprises and seize the time to shut down those small magnesium plants with excessive energy consumption and serious pollution.

At present, the reduction of a ton of magnesium from Dolomite requires 10 tons of coal, 1000 degrees of electricity and 1.2 tons of ferrosilicon. If we calculate the consumption of silicon iron, magnesium is the absolute energy consumption.

Secondly, it is necessary to improve and eliminate the production process of PI Jiang as soon as possible. In the short term, the technology of double preheating, regenerative reduction and energy saving can be used to turn the coal burning technology into gas technology.

The energy consumption of some magnesium enterprises in Ningxia can be reduced by about 50%, and the output of 10 thousand tons of magnesium can be saved by more than 30 thousand tons of standard coal. If the domestic magnesium industry is promoted, the annual output of about 500000 tons of magnesium can save about 2000000 tons of standard coal.

But in the end, it is necessary to use electrolysis or internal heating technology to expand scale production.

The development and market application of third, first new materials will take time to develop. Under the situation of energy saving and emission reduction in China, the government should vigorously advocate the popularization and application of new magnesium alloys in automobiles and other industries.