Dongfang Tantalum: Domestic demand in China for high-value-added products such as superalloys, semiconductor tantalum targets, and high-purity niobium materials is gradually rising.

On September 30, the share price of Oriental Tantalum declined. As of the close on the 30th, Oriental Tantalum fell 2.13% to 54.27 yuan per share.

In terms of news, the investor relations management information announced by Oriental Tantalum on 20260918 shows:

3. What are the main reasons for the company's H1 revenue growth?

Oriental Tantalum responded: In H1 2026, the company's operating revenue grew YoY, mainly driven by the gradual release of the company's capacity, growth in tantalum and niobium product sales, and the gradual increase in tantalum product prices. Facing a market environment of sharply rising tantalum and niobium raw material prices, the company has maintained long-term cooperative relationships with core clients while continuously passing on costs, with product pricing effectively linked to raw material prices. The company's foundation for long-term stable growth remains solid, and its development momentum is strong.

4. What is the progress of the company's newly raised investment projects?

Oriental Tantalum responded: In 2026, the company launched a new round of fundraising projects totaling 1.189 billion yuan. Among them, the civil construction of the tantalum-niobium hydrometallurgy digital factory construction project has been completed, and the overall project has entered the equipment installation and commissioning stage. The tantalum-niobium pyrometallurgy smelting product production line expansion and renovation project is progressing in an orderly manner, with phased results achieved in both engineering construction and equipment installation and commissioning, and main equipment is gradually entering the commissioning and trial production stage. The tantalum-niobium high-end product production line construction project is advancing equipment procurement and construction simultaneously in an orderly manner, with main equipment currently undergoing installation and commissioning. Upon completion, these three projects will effectively resolve capacity bottlenecks, achieve self-sufficiency in key raw materials, and further strengthen the company's competitive barriers in the industry.

5. What are the company's expectations for the market?

Oriental Tantalum responded:With the continued development of China's high-tech, new infrastructure, and other industries, domestic demand for high-value-added products such as superalloys, semiconductor tantalum targets, and high-purity niobium materials is gradually rising. In recent years, the company has made every effort to promote technological upgrades and capacity expansion of its production lines, rationally organized production, and gradually released new capacity. Guided by the strategy of ensuring self-sufficiency in the industry chain, the localisation process has evolved from breakthroughs in individual products to systematic solutions, providing a solid foundation for the growth of tantalum, niobium, and their alloy products.

In the superalloy sector, benefiting from growing demand in gas turbines, aerospace engines, and automotive turbochargers, the superalloy market has grown rapidly in recent years. At the same time, as the company's technological renovation projects gradually release capacity, growth in superalloy products has been relatively significant.

In the semiconductor sector, driven by the explosive growth of AI and computing power chips, demand for advanced process chips has surged, significantly boosting market demand for tantalum targets and high-purity tantalum ingots used in semiconductors. With the company's continuous research breakthroughs in recent years, its high-purity tantalum powder, high-purity tantalum ingots, and 12-inch tantalum target billets have achieved full-process technological breakthroughs and industrial integration.

In the capacitor sector, benefiting from the recovery of the consumer electronics market, demand in the tantalum capacitor market has also shown signs of recovery.

6. What has the company done to ensure raw material supply?

Orient Tantalum responded: The company has established a global procurement and supply system for tantalum-niobium concentrates. By leveraging long-term partnerships with reputable and sizable ore traders in China and overseas, it has secured core raw material sources and established stable import channels for tantalum-niobium concentrates. These channels have operated reliably for years, fully demonstrating their ability to safeguard production operations.

CNMC Trading Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the company's actual controller China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group, has completed the equity acquisition of Taboca Mineração Ltda., an ore producer in Brazil. In 2026, the company continued to sign an iron-tantalum-niobium alloy purchase contract with Taboca Mineração Ltda. This strategic move will further enhance the company's autonomous and controllable capabilities in the supply of tantalum-niobium ore raw materials, providing core strategic safeguards for industry chain security.

The company will systematically recycle tantalum-niobium metal scrap generated across all production and processing stages of the entire industry chain, including the hydrometallurgy plant, pyrometallurgy plant, tantalum powder plant, tantalum wire plant, and products plant. It will also purchase tantalum-niobium metal scrap externally through market channels, continuously strengthening raw material supply capabilities and building a closed-loop "production-recycling-reuse" model to maximize resource utilization efficiency.

In terms of performance, Orient Tantalum's semi-annual report shows that in H1 2026, the company achieved revenue of 1.04 billion yuan, up 30.50% YoY. This was mainly driven by the company's continued market expansion, gradual release of capacity from its fundraising projects, and sufficient orders on hand boosting product sales YoY. Coupled with rising tantalum-niobium raw material prices driving selling prices higher, multiple factors jointly boosted revenue growth. In H1 2026, tantalum-niobium raw material purchase prices overall consolidated at highs with periodic spikes. Facing significant pressure from rising raw material costs, the company proactively conducted business negotiations and worked with major clients at home and abroad to establish a raw material price linkage mechanism, raising product selling prices in stages to actively offset cost pressures and stabilize product profitability. During the reporting period, the company's product gross margin remained largely stable, up slightly by 0.36 percentage points YoY.

In H1 2026, the company achieved total profit of 124 million yuan, down 15.24% YoY. Profit from the tantalum-niobium core business reached 110 million yuan, up 5.19% YoY. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the publicly listed firm was 122 million yuan, down 15.52% YoY. Net profit after deducting non-recurring items was 120 million yuan, down 12.57% YoY. The company's net profit declined YoY, mainly due to the combined impact of multiple factors: First, affected by industry policies, upstream raw material supply, and cyclical demand fluctuations from key downstream clients, the operating performance of associated companies fluctuated periodically, with investment income recognized from Xicaiyuan in the reporting period down 66.12% YoY, putting the company's overall profitability under phased pressure; second, due to the appreciation of the RMB against the US dollar, foreign currency asset translation led to increased exchange losses; third, growth in orders on hand drove higher procurement capital requirements, and expanded financing scale caused interest expenses to increase YoY; fourth, upstream raw material prices rose, and there is a time lag in transmitting product prices.

Regarding the main businesses, main products, and their uses, Dongfang Tantalum stated: The company is primarily engaged in the R&D, production, sales, and import/export business of rare metals tantalum, niobium, and their alloys. It has now formed series products including tantalum metal and alloy products, and niobium metal and alloy products. These products are widely used in electronics, communications, aviation, aerospace, metallurgy, petroleum, chemicals, lighting, atomic energy, solar energy, and other fields.

On raw material risks, Dongfang Tantalum stated: The company's main product raw materials are imported from outside China, and there are significant fluctuations in ore raw material prices. Changes in the international political and economic environment bring uncertainties to the company's ability to obtain sufficient raw materials. Countermeasures: (1) The company actively responds to changes in the international tantalum-niobium raw material market, insists on going deep into the front line of resources to solve supply problems, and makes every effort to expand multiple supply guarantee channels. (2) Improve the comprehensive utilization rate of raw materials (scrap) and the usage rate of secondary raw materials.

In its 2025 annual report, Dongfang Tantalum announced its main operating targets for 2026: 1. 2026 company operating revenue: operating target of 2 billion yuan. 2. 2026 company (business development approach) guiding ideology: Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and all plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, earnestly study and implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the work of central state-owned enterprises, adhere to the general working principle of "seeking progress while maintaining stability, improving quality and efficiency," focus on the theme of high-quality development, strive to promote effective improvement in quality and reasonable growth in quantity of operating performance, and ensure the "15th Five-Year Plan" development takes a solid first step and achieves a good start with practical results. (III) Main work arrangements and measures to achieve the 2026 company operating targets: 1. Adhere to value creation and stabilize the fundamentals for the opening year. First, make every effort to stabilize growth. In 2026, strengthen operating performance analysis and precise regulation, refine policy effectiveness, and expand profit margins. Second, focus on expanding the market. Closely monitor dynamic changes in market window periods, strengthen overall coordination and scheduling efficiency, solidify the existing market base, seize incremental market space, consolidate and enhance the traditional market share of tantalum powder and tantalum wire, increase market development efforts in high-temperature alloys, superconductivity, national defense industry, and other fields, and comprehensively improve the supply guarantee capability of core products. Deepen the implementation of the special action for "increasing resource reserves and production", make good use of tin, zirconium, hafnium and other resources, optimize the procurement strategy for tantalum and niobium raw materials, and establish a tantalum resource reserve mechanism. Third, unswervingly focus on projects. Improve the operational quality of completed projects, accelerate the progress of projects under construction, speed up the implementation and efficiency of new projects, and ensure that projects are put into production with speed, products enter the market with advantages, and value is realized with benefits. Centering on the goal of digital and intelligent transformation, strengthen the deep integration of 5G, big data, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies with enterprise development, and activate a new engine for industrial upgrading. 2. Adhere to innovation-driven development and activate new momentum in the opening year. 3. Adhere to reform and tackling difficulties, and remove obstacles in the opening year. 4. Adhere to lean management and enhance the value of the opening year. 5. Adhere to holding the bottom line and weave a dense safety net for the opening year.

In the spot market: according to SMM quotes, the average price of high-purity tantalum ingots (Ta≥99.999%) on September 30 was flat compared with the previous trading day.

From the perspective of demand transmission across downstream sectors, the pace of price rises shows clear divergence. Supply of goods in high-end application fields is tight, product premiums are prominent, and quotes for related products continue to be raised. Among them, tantalum capacitors are the largest downstream demand sector, accounting for about 40% of applications, and the industry market growth rate remains above 15%, directly boosting upstream tantalum powder demand. Driven by concentrated release of high-end orders and tight supply, mainstream tantalum powder specifications are priced at around 6,000 yuan/kg; specifications for high-end fields show obvious premiums due to tight supply, with prices about 50% higher than mainstream specifications, and order backlogs are full with tight supply. Tantalum targets account for about 20% of applications, supporting demand for high-purity tantalum ingots; currently, 99.999% high-purity tantalum ingot transaction prices are in the range of 6,900-7,000 yuan/kg. In contrast, product prices in traditional and low-end application fields lack upward momentum, demand performance is average and slightly shrinking, and in other application directions, due to some traders grabbing orders at low prices, related enterprises have basically suspended accepting orders.

Regarding the outlook for tantalum ore, some market participants believe that the current overall tantalum ore supply-demand fundamentals have not been materially impacted, and the tight supply mainly stems from miners holding back from selling. Miners generally hope to sell their tantalum ore at higher prices, so they actively control shipment volumes. In the short term, tantalum ore prices remain biased to the upside, and the possibility of further testing the year's high cannot be ruled out.