Poor Demand and Concentrated Cargoes Arrivals To Weigh On Aluminium Billet Conversion Margins

The Chongqing Wencan NEV Parts Smart Manufacturing Project, located in Qingfeng Sci-Tech Innovation City in Shapingba District, was completed and is expected to enter the equipment commissioning stage in April this year. Two sets of the world’s largest 12000T die-casting machines will also be installed subsequently, helping the project achieve breakthroughs in capacity and technological upgrades. The project was invested in and built by Wencan Co., Ltd., with a total investment of about 800 million yuan, covering 128 mu and with a total gross floor area of about 69,000 m². It will create a smart factory integrating die-casting, machining, post-processing, and assembly processes, mainly producing lightweight integrated auto body structural parts and power system parts for NEVs.

According to foreign media reports, as the ongoing escalation of geopolitical conflict in the Middle East disrupted navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, shipments of aluminum products in the region had “stalled.” Mercuria Energy Group, the world’s largest independent integrated energy and commodities trading house, was expected to urgently withdraw nearly 100,000 mt of aluminum from London Metal Exchange (LME) warehousing facilities to ease the supply gap in European and US markets. Three sources familiar with the matter revealed that Switzerland-based Mercuria had on Monday canceled warrants for, or earmarked for delivery, nearly 100,000 mt of aluminum stored in LME-approved warehouses at Port Klang. Mercuria has so far declined to comment on the move.

Recently, construction began on the annual output project of 8,000 mt of aluminum alloy products by Henan Yuanguangcheng New Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yuanguangcheng Technology”) in the Queshan County Development Zone. This marked a critical step forward for Queshan County in advancing advanced manufacturing and improving the intelligent equipment manufacturing industry chain. The project is located on the southwest side of Gongye 1st Road and Kaiyuan Road in the Queshan County Development Zone, covering nearly 30 mu, with a total investment of 81 million yuan. It is expected to build high-standard factory buildings and modern production lines, with a total construction area of 25,000 m².