[magnesium Summit] Yuan Ming: new High strength and High plastic cast magnesium Alloy and its Engineering Application

At the 2021 China magnesium Industry chain Summit Forum, Lian Xuehua, vice president of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region Nonferrous Metals Industry Association and magnesium industry sub-chairman, explained the current situation analysis and prospect of China's magnesium industry.

Introduction

In 2020, the national output of raw magnesium is about 900000 tons, and the export volume is about 400000 tons. Prices have bottomed out since November. According to the latest statistics of the General Administration of Customs, from January to July 2020, the total export volume of magnesium products from six tax codes in China totaled 228900 tons, down 14.75% from the same period last year. From January to July, the overall decline of China's magnesium export volume is obvious. However, it is gratifying that the export volume of magnesium scrap and magnesium processed materials still keeps growing.

According to SMM data, the price of domestic magnesium ingots fell all the way after a brief surge at the beginning of 2020, and the average price of magnesium ingots fluctuated in the range of 14100-16400 yuan / ton in the first half of the year.

During the first quarter of the period, in February, the transportation of raw materials was affected by local traffic control at the beginning of the resumption of work after the epidemic year. The price of magnesium reached the highest transaction price of 15000 yuan / ton after a relatively short period of time. The epidemic continued to ferment, and the demand for magnesium ingots at home and abroad was weak. Then it fell all the way. It bottomed out in mid-October and accelerated at the end of the year and is now at its highest level since the end of February 2020.

Spot price of SMM1# magnesium ingot (Shanghai)

SMM metal database magnesium ingot price

Development status of magnesium Industry

Former magnesium smelting enterprises: affected by the epidemic in 2020, enterprises are facing difficulties. Some enterprises due to the lack of personnel to the post, a small number of personnel, affecting the normal production, resulting in insufficient production capacity, part of the reduction furnace shut down. Logistics was blocked due to the epidemic, which affected the transportation of raw materials such as dolomite, ferrosilicon and magnesium ingots. Some enterprises barely relied on inventory before the year ago, and improved in the later period of the epidemic. The influence of the epidemic situation of logistics and upstream enterprises leads to the rise of raw material prices and drives up the production costs of enterprises. Including dolomite, ferrosilicon, raw coal and so on. The manpower and funds invested in response to the epidemic have relatively little impact on enterprises.

Safety and environmental protection requirements: magnesium smelting has high energy consumption and produces a large amount of waste residue, which has been listed as a restricted project by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2011. There are many small and medium-sized companies in the industry, capital is tight, it is difficult to bear the high one-time environmental protection investment expenditure, some enterprises close down, stop production has become inevitable. It has a great influence on the output of primary magnesium. Due to the need of environmental protection, normal production enterprises should put into environmental protection facilities such as flue gas desulfurization, denitrification, dedusting devices, on-line monitoring devices, such as dedusting facilities of reduction furnace, desulphurization and dedusting facilities of refining furnace, flue gas on-line monitoring equipment and so on. It has an impact on the funds of the enterprise. at the same time, the operation of environmental protection facilities also requires the investment of enterprises. The investment in environmental protection of enterprises is gradually increasing, resulting in a rise in costs. At the same time, after the completion of environmental protection investment, enterprises with abundant funds will comply with the law and mass production, and their production capacity will be liberalized.

The impact of raw materials for magnesium smelting: in 2020, the price of ferrosilicon experienced great ups and downs. Throughout the year, ferrosilicon basically fluctuated around 200,300 yuan / ton on the cost line in the first half of the year, and began to be affected by environmental protection, raw materials and other factors in the second half of the year. Prices fluctuated upward, breaking through 6000 yuan / ton all the way, with both supply and demand increasing. The market shows a steady upward trend, both raw materials and downstream demand have changed greatly this year.

The application of magnesium alloy downstream of magnesium ingot: the demand of automobile lightweight and energy saving and emission reduction is expected to lead to the continuous growth of original magnesium demand. The unique physical and chemical properties of magnesium alloy make it a business opportunity for the development of 3C products. At present, magnesium alloys are mainly cast magnesium alloys in 3c products. Magnesium alloys are more and more widely used in 3C industry. Magnesium is also considered for the manufacture of high-speed rail train seats and treatment for the production of ultra-pure steel and to improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of the steel.

Competition and capital pressure in the industry: there is a situation of competitive price reduction, market grabbing and disorderly competition in the magnesium industry. The relationship between supply and demand in the magnesium industry shows the situation that the market is oversaturated, the sales price of some enterprises is close to or lower than the cost price, the profit of the enterprise decreases, the profitability becomes worse, coupled with the investment of safety and environmental protection, some enterprises are in a state of loss or suspension of production.

Treatment and utilization of waste residue: the compliance treatment of magnesium reduction slag is a difficulty faced by enterprises at present. Most of the magnesium reduction slag is directly discarded or buried, which will undoubtedly cause environmental problems. As a solid waste, the reduction slag must be put on record in the provincial and autonomous region environmental protection departments, and its storage, transportation and sales must be supervised by the environmental protection bureau.

Enterprise production and market demand: at present, supply exceeds demand in the magnesium industry, disorderly competition depresses prices, enterprises do not form a joint organization to resist market risks, and do not have the right to speak in the market.

Development Prospect of magnesium Industry

The government has set up a platform to promote cooperation with state-owned enterprises:

On December 12, 2011, at the initiative of Shaanxi magnesium Association, Shaanxi magnesium Group Co., Ltd. was established. After the establishment of the group, strategic development goals were formulated:

1. Based on Fugu and Shenmu, we are committed to building the largest supply base of primary magnesium ingots in China.

2. It is planned to invest 35 billion yuan to build a magnesium alloy circular economy industrial chain base with magnesium alloy products as the leading products in Yulin City.

3. It is planned to build a magnesium alloy deep processing base based on high-end magnesium alloy products in Xi'an to promote and broaden the application of magnesium alloy products.

4. Set up a large-scale e-commerce trading platform to create the country's first spot futures market for magnesium and magnesium alloy products.

Popularization and application of new technologies to reduce costs, such as slag loader, vertical tube furnace, reduction refining desulphurization, denitrification and dust removal equipment

The popularization and application of the new process opens up the utilization of resources: the reduction technology of magnesium by aluminothermic method can not only reduce energy consumption and increase output, but also save raw materials and reduce the amount of waste residue. Microwave heating magnesium smelting technology, the heating process is easy to operate and suitable for automatic control.

Cooperation between magnesium downstream enterprises and original magnesium smelting enterprises: the former magnesium smelting enterprises grasp the market and customer demand in time, organize raw materials, personnel, logistics and other production resources according to their ability, and adjust the production plan. According to the market demand at home and abroad and the production situation of the original magnesium smelting enterprises, magnesium products enterprises organize their own production according to customer needs and raw material supply capacity, and jointly resist the adverse changes under the epidemic situation.

Docking the 14th five-year Plan: under the overall planning, formulate their own development strategies and meet the overall requirements of the country. Only in this way can the development of magnesium alloy industry be legal, comply with regulations, and achieve sound and healthy development.