SMM2, 22 March: according to customs data, from January to December 2018, China's lead concentrate imports totaled 1.2272 million tons, down 5.04 percent from the same period last year.
As can be seen from the pie chart of imported lead concentrate from January to December, Jianfa Logistics Group Co., Ltd. (7%), Henan Yuguang Gold and lead Co., Ltd. (6%), Tok Investment (China) Co., Ltd. (6%), Shandong Hengbang smelting Co., Ltd. (5%), Chifeng Guoyuan Foreign Trade Co., Ltd. (5%), Hunan Zhuye Torch Metal Import and Export Co., Ltd. (4%), Chifeng Mountain Jin Ruipeng Trading Co., Ltd. (4%) accounted for a relatively large number of imported lead concentrate.
Judging from the customs declaration ports, Nanjing Customs (27%), Manzhouli Customs (15%) and Shenyang Customs (13%) account for half of the lead concentrate circulation. Kunming Customs, Changsha Customs, Nanning Customs and Qingdao Customs have more than 5% of the lead concentrate in circulation.
In terms of major source countries, in the import trade of lead concentrate, the main source countries include the Russian Federation (19 per cent), the United States (13 per cent), Myanmar (10 per cent), Peru (7 per cent), Australia (6 per cent) and Turkey (5 per cent).
According to SMM, under the background that the scale of domestic import and export reached an all-time high, the amount of imported lead concentrate did not increase but decreased in 2018. SMM analysis shows that the main reasons are as follows: 1. The global production of lead concentrate continues to decline; 2. During the period of considerable import profit, the centralized maintenance of domestic refineries, coupled with the unabated intensity of environmental protection inspection during the year, the operation rate of refineries decreased, resulting in a decrease in the demand for lead concentrate; 3. Some of the original refineries lack the ability to lock up the value of foreign exchange, even if the import profit is considerable, the import volume has not been greatly liberalized; 4. Refineries increase the proportion of lead-containing waste instead of lead concentrate, and the dependence on lead concentrate decreases. 5. Domestic mine TC continues to rise, refineries prefer to give priority to the purchase of domestic mines.
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