Guangdong Huajin Aluminum Industry: the influence of Metal Silicon on Al-Si Alloy Market [Silicon Summit]

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At the 2021 (9th) Silicon Industry Summit solemnly held by SMM, Li Hongwei, Assistant President (and International Division) of Guangdong Huajin Aluminum Group, mainly explained the current situation of Al-Si alloy industry, the relationship between raw materials and silicon, market change analysis, hot spot analysis and prospect of Al-Si industry.

The status of Al-Si alloy industry-taking advantage of recycled aluminum

The latest data show that recycled aluminum emissions are equivalent to 2.1% of the entire primary aluminum production process. Recycled aluminum has a wide connotation, the traditional recycled aluminum industry is mainly cast aluminum-silicon alloy, including deformed aluminum alloy and so on.

Double carbon promotes the development of Al-Si alloy industry. Recycled aluminum is an important way to achieve carbon peak of non-ferrous metals. Cast aluminum alloy accounts for 75% of recycled aluminum products.

China's recycled Al-Si alloy industry is in the forefront of the world.

Industry concentration has increased significantly: at present, domestic recycled aluminum enterprises are mainly recycled cast aluminum alloy enterprises, the top ten recycled aluminum enterprises account for about 46% of the total domestic recycled aluminum production capacity, and the production capacity is relatively concentrated. Showing the development characteristics of collectivization. Considering the raw material transportation radius, the output of a single factory is less than 200000 tons. Aluminum Industry access conditions (implemented in 2012) "the scale of the new recycled aluminum project shall be 100000 tons / year or more; the production access scale of existing recycled aluminum enterprises shall not be less than 50, 000 tons / year."

Environmental protection level of equipment technology: international advanced equipment is continuously introduced and localized continuously. The double-chamber melting furnace is widely used, and its energy consumption level is among the highest in the world. The emission of environmental protection is decreasing continuously, which is not inferior to the international advanced level.

Product quality and management: advanced quality management system is fully introduced; product quality reaches the world's advanced level; aluminum-Huaihe River direct supply promotion is rapid.

Distribution of aluminum-silicon alloy enterprises: production capacity distribution provinces are concentrated: the production capacity of Jiangsu, Guangdong and Henan ranks in the top three, all exceeding 1.5 million tons, while Zhejiang, Chongqing and Hebei exceed an average of 1 million tons. The total production capacity of the six provinces accounts for more than 50% of the total production capacity. There are more than 10 enterprises with a production capacity of more than 300000 tons.

The function and amount of Metal Silicon in Al-Si Alloy

The strength of pure aluminum is low, so it is not suitable to make structural parts under load. Adding appropriate amount of silicon to aluminum changes the properties of aluminum.

Cast aluminum alloy directly uses metal silicon, the main models include 553, 551, 441.

The Al-Si master alloy is mainly Al-Si 20, and Al-Si 50 is mainly exported.

Deformed aluminum alloy indirectly makes metal silicon, aluminum-silicon master alloy. The silicon content is low, usually less than 0.5%. In the deformed aluminum alloy, the addition of silicon to aluminum is limited to welding materials, and the addition of silicon to aluminum also has a certain strengthening effect.

The fluidity of silicon in cast aluminum alloy increases with the increase of silicon content, and there is almost no hot cracking when it reaches 6%. Silicon in aluminum casting reduces the expansion coefficient of castings and improves the wear resistance of castings.

Silicon is widely used in aluminum alloy, and the amount of aluminum alloy of different grades is different, and the estimated usage is about 700000 tons (there are also different data).

How to treat the Import of recycled Aluminum Resources correctly

According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, the import of aluminum scrap in June 2021 was 38800 tons, an increase of 13.11% over May and a decrease of 36.49% compared with June 20. Imports totaled 406700 tons from January to June in 2021, an increase of 4.40% over the same period last year.

Analysis of Silicon content in imported recycled Aluminum Raw Materials

Imported waste aluminum, now known as recycled casting aluminum alloy raw materials, its varieties are mainly automobile flotation and polishing chips. It is a mixture of raw aluminum and cooked aluminum, with an estimated silicon content of 5-7%.

The silicon content of imported aluminum alloy ingots varies according to product brands, and the average silicon content is estimated to be about 10%.

The skyrocketing price of metal silicon has an important impact on the Al-Si alloy industry.

Impact on the price of recycled aluminum products. The silicon content of recycled aluminum alloy ingot ADC12 is 9.6-12%, and its price is lower than that of primary aluminum for a long time, and the change in silicon price will make the price of ADC12 higher than that of primary aluminum.

The cost of silicon-containing products has increased significantly, such as A356.2, and the processing fee has increased from 600 yuan to 2500 yuan, with a maximum of 4700 yuan.

The influence on the value of waste aluminum raw materials. Waste aluminum is mainly composed of raw aluminum and cooked aluminum, raw aluminum is usually aluminum-silicon alloy, for a long time, raw aluminum is lower than mature aluminum, driven by the rising price of silicon, the value of raw aluminum has increased greatly.

Silicon has changed from a metal that reduces costs to a metal that increases costs, and silicon will become an important factor in determining the value of waste aluminum.

Recycled aluminum enterprises have never paid so much attention to silicon and will have to pay attention to the purchase of silicon and the establishment of stable supply channels.

Great changes have taken place in the price of low-iron Al-Si alloys represented by A356.

441 is used to produce A356. With the continuous increase of the price of 441, the price of A356 has changed greatly. A356 is usually quoted on the basis of A00. After the silicon price is higher than the original aluminum price, the pricing model of A356 has changed greatly.

The slowdown in automobile production and sales affects the demand for traditional recycled Al-Si alloys.

Automobile is the largest consumption field of traditional recycled aluminum, and aluminum for communication is developing rapidly.

Aluminum for lightweight bicycles for automobiles will gradually transition from an average of 190 kg to 250 kg, and the demand will continue to grow; cast aluminum alloy accounts for about 60% of the total aluminum alloy; (of which about 70% of recycled cast aluminum alloy is mainly aluminum-silicon series), and the rest of aluminum for bicycles is deformed aluminum alloy.

The change of demand for Al-Si alloy in new energy vehicles leads to the increase of silicon consumption.

In October, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 397000 and 383000 respectively, up 12.5% and 7.2% month-on-month, both 1.3 times higher than the same period last year.

From January to October in 2021, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.566 million and 2.542 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 times.

Tesla integrated die casting technology is becoming a new trend.

The demand model of aluminum alloy for the lightweight of new energy vehicles has changed. Will change from recycled aluminum series alloy to primary aluminum series alloy.

Industry summary and prospect

Great changes are taking place in the pattern of aluminum alloy in China, which is in the leading level in the world in terms of industrial concentration and technical level.

The change of the price difference between silicon and aluminum has changed the market material structure and pricing mode of Al-Si alloy.

Recycled aluminum is an important way to achieve the dual-carbon goal of aluminum industry, and the continuous expansion of the application of recycled aluminum will affect the demand for silicon.

The demand for silicon in Al-Si alloys will continue to grow until 2025 and will remain stable after 2025.