Make concerted efforts to promote the high-quality development of magnesium industry

Price situation

Driven by rising prices of raw materials such as coal and ferrosilicon, domestic magnesium prices have continued to rise since the beginning of this year. It rose from 14000 yuan / ton at the beginning of the year to 70, 000 yuan / ton in September. From January to June, magnesium prices rose steadily. At the end of June, the price was 20,000 yuan per ton. After July, magnesium prices rose rapidly. In September, under the influence of the implementation of double control measures on energy consumption in Yulin area, production in Fugu area was completely stopped, causing magnesium prices to rise into a crazy mode. In late September, the highest price jumped to more than 70,000 yuan per ton, up 89% from the all-time high in 2008.

Production situation

The output of raw magnesium increased slightly. According to preliminary statistics from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, from January to July, China produced 494100 tons of raw magnesium, an increase of 4.55 percent over the same period last year. Among them, Shaanxi produced a total of 344200 tons, an increase of 12.3 percent over the same period last year, while Shanxi produced a cumulative production of 68700 tons, an increase of 0.58 percent over the same period last year.

Export situation

Since the beginning of this year, the export of magnesium products in China has increased significantly. According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, from January to August, China exported a total of 306000 tons of magnesium products, an increase of 20.81 percent over the same period last year; the cumulative amount was 887 million US dollars, an increase of 48.16 percent over the same period last year. Of this total, magnesium ingots exported 172900 tons, up 27.51 percent over the same period last year; magnesium alloy exports totaled 76300 tons, up 21.11 percent over the same period last year; and magnesium powder exports totaled 49300 tons, up 10.04 percent over the same period last year.

The policy explanation in the main magnesium producing areas is not clear, which affects the output stability.

Many policies of Fugu need to be implemented.

More than 60% of the production capacity of magnesium in China is concentrated in Yulin area, and most of it is in Fugu. Yulin area is not only an energy-producing area, but also a concentrated area of high energy-consuming industries. In the context of the new era, it is facing unprecedented pressure of energy conservation and emission reduction and industrial transformation and upgrading. In recent years, Fugu magnesium has been successively affected by orchid carbon industry policy, environmental protection inspector and energy consumption double control, the uncertainty of policy interpretation is increasing, and there is serious instability in the production and operation of magnesium enterprises.

On double control of energy consumption

In terms of supply, the supply of coal has decreased. Limited new domestic production capacity, coupled with the serious impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, production restrictions in major coal exporting countries, a decline in exports, a sharp reduction in imports.

From the point of view of demand, electricity consumption has increased significantly. As a global manufacturing power, China has to cope with the surge in global manufacturing orders, resulting in a sharp increase in electricity demand; in addition, some energy-intensive industries have been concentrated in production, and electricity demand has increased by 10% and 15% over the same period last year.

From the point of view of the market, supply is limited. During the 14th five-year Plan period, the growth rate of China's energy demand slowed down, and the supply and demand situation was generally loose. therefore, strict control measures were taken to control coal mining, resulting in an imbalance between supply and demand in the coal market, resulting in high coal prices.

On how to alleviate the current tight situation of power supply, the National Development and Reform Commission has made corresponding arrangements and arrangements for energy supply this winter and next spring. Increase supply, release and increase domestic coal and natural gas production capacity, at the same time, stabilize and increase international imports of coal and natural gas; lock resources to ensure medium-and long-term contracts for coal and natural gas for power generation and heating; use energy in an orderly manner, adhere to energy supply for people's livelihood, guide local scientific and orderly energy use; reserve security, supervise the safety level of coal storage in power plants, implement the progress of gas injection in gas storage facilities, and ensure emergency reserve and peak regulation capacity; We will dredge costs and ensure stable prices for people's livelihood, agriculture and public welfare energy use. Other prices can be adjusted by the market within the scope of compliance, and the range of adjustment can be uniformly increased to 20%. We will effectively control and resolutely curb unreasonable energy demand, especially the "two high" projects.

About the price of magnesium in the future

Due to the instability of coal, natural gas and electricity, the cost of raw materials for production is unstable, coupled with the possible situation of power restriction, the price of magnesium is difficult to be stable.

The production capacity of foreign countries is about 300000 tons and the output is about 160000 tons. There is a big difference in the production cost of magnesium abroad. Malaysia and Turkey adopt the Pijiang process, which is estimated to be about 25000-30, 000 yuan / ton based on the cost of existing raw materials; the production cost of electrolysis in the United States is about 35000-40, 000 yuan / ton; the cost of magnesium in Russia is lower, less than 20, 000 yuan / ton.

The foundation for expanding the application of magnesium alloys is not solid.

The large fluctuation of magnesium price is not conducive to the expansion of application.

The fundamental way out for the high-quality development of magnesium industry is to expand the application of magnesium alloys. In recent years, with the support of the government, the magnesium industry has made great efforts to promote the application of magnesium alloys. In some fields, the consumption of magnesium processing materials has increased slowly. It is estimated that from January to July, the production of magnesium alloy processing materials is relatively normal, which is higher than that of previous years, but in September, prices soared and downstream processing enterprises completely stopped production. Last year, the annual output of magnesium alloy processing materials was less than 150000 tons.

The direction of magnesium application

Combined with the use performance, technological performance and economic performance of the material, magnesium alloy has fully shown its advantages in some fields and achieved good application results. The application of forged magnesium alloy wheels in medium and high-end automobiles is beginning to emerge. It also requires the joint efforts of all links in the industrial chain. According to the development and application of aluminum alloy building formwork in the market, as well as the exposed shortcomings, magnesium alloy building formwork should have great market potential.

Magnesium alloy building formwork

In 2019, the Beijing Municipal catalogue of prohibited use of Building Materials (2018 Edition) issued by the Beijing Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Commission clearly pointed out that bamboo and wood plywood formwork has poor water resistance, less turnover and a waste of resources. bamboo and wood plywood formwork was included in 77 banned building materials. The 13th five-year Plan of Building Energy Saving and Green Building Development issued by the Ministry of Housing points out: "persist in promoting in an all-round way, expanding from planning, design and construction to operation and management, from energy-saving green buildings to prefabricated buildings and green building materials." the concept of energy saving and green development is extended to the whole field, the whole process and the whole industry chain. "

Energy saving, environmental protection, green and sustainable development have become the major trend of the construction industry. Aluminum alloy building formwork has gradually become the mainstream choice of building formwork, especially high-rise building formwork, because of its strong stiffness, light weight, green environmental protection recycling, long use cycle, short construction cycle and so on.

Compared with the popular building formwork materials, magnesium alloy building formwork has been developed continuously in recent years under the promotion of relevant enterprises. Compared with aluminum alloy template, magnesium alloy template has the advantages of long service life and recyclability, lighter weight and stronger alkali corrosion resistance. If the magnesium price is close to the aluminum price and the processing cost is lower, the magnesium alloy template will gradually scale up with the expansion of the aluminum alloy template market.

Magnesium as energy material

As an energy material, magnesium should be paid attention to in two directions: magnesium secondary battery and hydrogen storage material.

Magnesium has a very high volume capacity (lithium 2062 mAh/cm3, magnesium 3832mAh/cm3), so it is an excellent choice as a negative electrode for high volume energy density batteries. In recent years, the developed recyclable magnesium secondary battery has great potential. the working principle of magnesium secondary battery is the same as that of lithium secondary battery, but magnesium secondary battery is safer than lithium secondary battery because magnesium and a considerable number of magnesium chemicals are non-toxic or low toxic. Magnesium is not as active as lithium and is easy to process and operate. Magnesium is also safer to be exposed to air than lithium. In terms of price, due to the higher abundance of magnesium in the earth's crust, the price of magnesium is 24 times cheaper than lithium, while China is rich in magnesium resources and the reserves rank first in the world, so the development of magnesium batteries has a unique advantage. Therefore, the research and development of magnesium as the negative electrode of magnesium secondary battery is of great significance and broad prospects.

Mg-based solid-state hydrogen storage material, as a reversible hydrogen storage medium, has excellent hydrogen absorption and desorption performance and no kinetic attenuation and capacity loss in long-term cycle, so it can realize large-capacity solid-state hydrogen storage. Long-distance transportation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure can not only reduce the cost and energy consumption of hydrogen storage and transportation, but also safe and convenient, so it is expected to become an important key material in the field of hydrogen storage and transportation, so as to promote the development of hydrogen energy industry.

In addition, the hydrolysis of mg-based solid-state hydrogen storage materials can be carried out at lower temperatures, so it is expected to be used as a hydrogen source for high-power fuel cells to replace the currently used high-pressure hydrogen cylinders. it can greatly improve the safety of mobile hydrogen sources and reduce the cost of building high-pressure hydrogenation stations.

Vigorously promoting green and low-carbon development is a prerequisite for survival

Vigorously promote the "double carbon" initiative

As we all know, China is a large energy consumer, and the energy consumption per unit of GDP is 1.5 times of the world average. Coal is the main source of energy, and there is much room for improvement in energy efficiency.

In the past decade, the goal of double control of energy consumption has become the baton of energy transformation in China, but there are also some problems, such as the lack of flexibility of total management and the lack of differential management measures of double control of energy consumption. On September 16, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the Plan for improving the double Control system of Energy consumption intensity and Total quantity, which increased the flexibility and rationality of the double control system of energy consumption from many angles. At the same time, a series of flexible measures are put forward, including "setting aside a certain total target at the national level, overall support for the energy demand of major national projects, the development of renewable energy, etc.", as well as the dual-objective management of basic objectives and incentive objectives.

Under the background of the goal of "double carbon", it is a long-term focus to promote the low-carbon transformation of energy consumption by controlling fossil energy consumption and increasing the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption. this means that it is necessary to distinguish the types of energy while controlling the total amount of energy consumption.

Green and low carbon development

Although the lightweight of magnesium alloy will reduce the weight of products in the downstream industry, thus saving energy and promoting low-carbon development, magnesium is still developing natural resources smelting, is a resource product, needs to consume a lot of energy, is a high-energy product. Therefore, the magnesium industry must resolutely implement the decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on green and high-quality development, vigorously promote energy conservation and emission reduction, low-carbon development, and actively create green products, green factories, green parks and green supply chains.

In terms of energy use, we need to consider how to gradually introduce green energy and reduce the proportion of fossil energy. The government's interpretation of the industrial policy should be clear, and enterprises should seriously study the industrial policy so as to make the enterprise scale, technology and management meet the requirements of the industrial policy. It is necessary to do a good job in the management and control of the "three wastes", do a good job in recycling, meet the discharge standards, and do a good job in the absorption and treatment of magnesium slag.

Intelligent manufacturing should be the main direction of high quality development.

Intelligent Manufacturing is the inevitable requirement of High quality Development

Intelligent manufacturing is the deep integration of the new generation of information technology and advanced manufacturing technology, and the common enabling technology of digitalization, networking and intelligence. it is the diffusion and application in the manufacturing product design, production, logistics, service and other links of the value chain. It is an important practice to implement the new development concept and lead the high-quality development.

Due to the large number of industrial categories and the complexity of products, intelligent manufacturing is faced with secondary development in the diffusion process facing different manufacturing fields. The non-ferrous metal industry has established an intelligent manufacturing alliance and has developed a technical guide for intelligent manufacturing in the industry. There are more than 60 kinds of metals and semi-metals in the non-ferrous metals industry, and the gap between them is very large. In the magnesium industry, due to the relatively small industrial scale, smaller proportion of processing industry, low industrial concentration and small scale of a single enterprise, there is still a big gap in automation, informatization, digitization and so on.

However, intelligent manufacturing is the inevitable requirement of high-quality development. on the one hand, intelligent manufacturing is integrated into the supply chain of terminal products, and the supporting requirements of end products for suppliers are getting higher and higher, which need to be demonstrated by various series. including information, intelligence and so on; On the other hand, intelligent manufacturing is also the requirement of its own survival, the poor working environment is difficult to attract and stabilize the workforce, there is a crisis of shortage of workers.

The key elements of promoting Intelligent Manufacturing

To promote intelligent manufacturing, first of all, we should attach great importance to it ideologically. Long-term strategic projects such as intelligent manufacturing need the strategic vision of the person in charge of the enterprise to examine the rationality of investment from the perspective of the long-term development of the enterprise.

Secondly, where magnesium enterprises gather, the government and industry organizations should coordinate a variety of resources to support enterprises to promote intelligent manufacturing. Small-scale enterprises can not promote intelligent manufacturing, if we want to promote intelligent manufacturing, we must first promote the optimization of industrial structure, improve industrial concentration, and have a certain single scale. On this basis, the government and relevant social organizations encourage and promote banks and other financial institutions to give priority to various forms of support to intelligent manufacturing projects with advanced technology, obvious advantages and strong driving and supporting functions. Encourage backbone enterprises in the magnesium industry to participate in vocational education, improve the echelon construction of talents in all key fields of intelligent manufacturing, promote the emergence of a large number of high-level talents, and the continuous convergence of high-level technical and management talents; Take intelligent manufacturing and the construction of intelligent industrial chain as the main direction of magnesium industry in high-quality development, and promote the fundamental transformation of magnesium industry model, structure and enterprise form, so as to promote China's magnesium industry to integrate into the middle and high end of the value chain.