Asian Metal visits Gejiu Jinye, Yunnan Yunfan, Gejiu Kaimeng, Gejiu Zili and Qiandao Metal

On 1 December, 2017, Zhao Hao, the assistant president of Asian Metal, and Yao Guangzhi, the market analysis of tin of the company, visited Gejiu Jinye Renewable Tech Co., Ltd., Yunnan Yunfan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd., Gejiu Kaimeng Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Gejiu Zili Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. and Gejiu Qiandao Metal Co., Ltd., and were warmly welcomed by those companies. They had in-depth discussion on the current situation of tin smelters and the domestic tin market with those companies.

On the morning of 1 December, Zhao Hao and Yao Guangzhi paid a visit to Gejiu Jinye Renewable Tech Co., Ltd, and were warmly received by Zhang Shaoyun, the General Manager of the company. Mr. Zhang made a brief introduction of their current business and explained that they invested more to the environmental protection equipment. However, the environmental inspections still had great impact on their production, and they were unable to produce normally although all environmental indicators have met the requirements. Affected by environmental inspections and higher prices for raw material, the company owned much fewer profit margins. They are mainly processing materials supplied by other companies at present.

Later on that morning, Zhao Hao and Yao Guangzhi visited Yunnan Yunfan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd., and had friendly exchanges with He Jiansong, the Business Manager of the company. According to Mr. He, Yunnan Yunfan was still in the trial production stage; they had planned to see tin concentrate product in mid-December but postponed it to late December affected by environmental inspections. The company owns 4 electric furnaces and is able to produce 800tpm of tin ingot of "Jinge" brand at full capacity. In addition, Yao Guangzhi exchanged opinions deeply with Mr. He on tin price trend in the future and the tin ore supply.

On the afternoon, Zhao Hao and Yao Guangzhi visited Gejiu Kaimeng Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. and held in-depth discussion with Yang Qi, the Director of the Raw Material Department of the company on the state of tin concentrate in Yunnan. Mr. Yang explained that they slowed down to purchase tin ore as they were producing at a very low operating rate impacted by environmental inspections. Besides, the two parties exchanged opinions on the price trend of tin in 2018.

Then they visited Gejiu Zili Mining and Metallurgy Co., Ltd. and had friendly exchanges with Duan Yunchun, the CSO of the company. Ms. Duan claimed that the tin ingot demand from downstream consumers was sluggish in H2 of 2017, so the material of their company sold bad. Moreover, Yao Guangzhi and Ms. Duan exchanged in-depth opinions on the current fundamentals of tin market and tin price trend in 2018. Ms. Duan disclosed that their tin ingot is mainly sold via traders and showed interest in the tin summit of Asian Metal next year.

At last, the two persons left for Gejiu Qiandao Metal Co., Ltd., and exchanged views on the current Burmese tin ore market with Gao Zhanwei, the Business Manager of the company. The company is trading about 800 metal tons of Burmese tin ore per month with some of the material to be sold and some displaced to tin ingot for production of downstream products in the headquarter. Zhang Huanqun, the General Manager of the company, noted the grade of tin ore imported from Burma increased to some extent with the average grade at about 30% but the import market of tin ore from Burma would not be promising in 2018 affected by the reduced tin ore resource.