Zhejiang Release Transformation and Upgrade Plan for the Non-ferrous Metal Industry

The Zhejiang government recently formally released the “Zhejiang Transformation and Upgrade Plan for the Non-ferrous Metal Industry(2009-2012)”, which contained the following key objectives: to enable non-ferrous metals industry growth to exceed the average industrial growth of the whole province; to improve the proportion of higher-specification, valueadding and well known equipment production by 20%; to create 5 leading competitive conglomerates with strong international footprints,their own brands and a turnover in excess of RMB10 billion; to build a leading copper processing and manufacturing center and a key base for aluminum processing and the production of new materials of non-ferrous metal and recycled metals materials in China; to enhance the capacity of non-ferrous metals companies to innovate; to build more than 3 state-level technical centers or R&D institutes; to realize clean production and achieve advanced levels of energy/material consumption and pollutant emission indicators within China’s non-ferrous metals industry.

According to the Plan, the first stage would include the following. The copper processing and the manufacturing industry would be consolidated and improved, further demonstrating the strengths of the copper processing industry;develop a premier domestic advanced copper processing and manufacturing base; speed up the reconstruction of the copper processing industry by making use of advanced technologies; form a technical structure with advanced equipment as its core; actively develop high value-adding copper products and import substitutes urgently needed in the market; optimize industrial structure, facilitate evolution from the enormous copper processing economy to a modern industrial cluster, and promote the development of conglomerates by copper processing and special copper processing companies characterized by professionalism,precision and specialty; intensify the construction of a copper processing innovation system; to facilitate more than 3 state-level technical centers or R&D institutes; create new technical and R&D strengths; to explore overseas markets; facilitate and develop export-oriented processing companies and bases; increase the export of high value-added products; facilitate the branding of copper processing; enhance the comprehensive varieties of standard formulation, project design and equipment manufacturing; promote the transfer of general copper processing projects to areas beyond Zhejiang, and even beyond China;develop deep processing, precision work and a headquarters economy dominated by R&D,marketing and operations in China.

In the second stage, there would be the speeding up of the processing industry of light nonferrous metals. This includes the active implementation of the conglomeration strategy,measures to facilitate the development of 2-3 leading companies with an annual processing capacity of more than 200,000 tons; measures to guide competitive aluminum processing companies to penetrate upstream and extend downstream; measures to carry out integrated production; measures to improve the level of technology and equipment used; measures to change and optimize the smelting process and improve the founding process; measures to enhance the level of automation, encourage the construction of large-scale extrusion equipment; measures to develop large-scale and high-speed short-flow rolling processes and high-precision cold-rolling equipment; measures to improve the quality of aluminum material surface treatment and developmental levels; measures to design and manufacture moulds; measures to develop high value-adding products capable of deep processing and performance to high levels of precision;measures to actively develop middle- and highend products; expand varieties of light nonferrous metals; measures to actively develop material processing of non-ferrous metals such as titanium alloy and magnesium alloy, etc.

The third part of the plan aims to facilitate and develop new non-ferrous metals materials: to gradually shape new areas of growth in the non-ferrous metals industry; to facilitate and develop a group of high-tech small- and medium-sized companies with core technology,independent intellectual property and industrial influence;

Fourthly, to regulate the industry of renewable metals: to tighten the industrial access system;to shape new trends in renewable metal production with industrial centralization, improving the standard of equipment and deploying effective environmental protection; to consolidate and improve recycling rates of traditional categories including copper, aluminum and silver,etc.; to actively explore new types of renewable metal utilization; to facilitate and develop a model state-level recycling economy.

The fifth and final part of the Plan intends to reconstruct and improve standards in the nonferrous metal smelting industry: to improve standards in the smelting industry of nonferrous metals such as aluminum, copper and zinc, etc. by facilitating favorable layouts, environmental protection, energy saving and emission reduction, and industrial admittance; to promote further cooperation between the aluminum smelting industry and CHINALCO; to guide the copper smelting industry to expand material sources, improve smelting and achieve mass production; to encourage the zinc smelting industry to adapt to the needs of urban development; to adopt new environmentallyfriendly smelting processes for reconstruction,thus reaching appropriate operational scales; to take measures for energy saving and emission reduction, and carry out a pilot utilization reconstruction project; to further improve energy saving and emission reduction and the comprehensive utilization of the smelting industry.