Escalating trade dispute weights on copper market

Asian Metal: Thank you for accepting the interview with Asian Metal. First, would you please give a brief introduction to your company?

Mr. Liu: Transense Copper is subordinate to Jiangsu Jiuzhou Investment Group.

Founded in 1988, Jiuzhou Investment Group is 30 years old. The Group's project portfolio consists of four major parts, namely assets projects, real estate projects, finance projects and intelligent manufacturing projects. Transense Copper is one of the intelligent manufacturing projects.

Invested by Jiangsu Jiuzhou Investment Group, Transense Copper is engaged in the R&D, production and sales of special copper tube. We own plants which cover about 3,000 square meters and have an annual production capacity of 25,000t. As an industry leader in producing high-tech, innovative special tube products as well as providing solutions for heat conduction and heat dissipation, we are committed to the research and development of high-efficiency heat transfer technology.

Asian Metal: What are your main products? And what are the advantages of your equipment, technology and product?

Mr. Liu: Transense Copper is world's first and biggest intelligent manufacturing company that not only focuses on the smelting and processing of copper tube, but also engages in the production, R&D, design and sale of heat superconducting materials, high precision electronic components, mobile communication base materials and high efficiency heat transfer tubing. Our products include oxygen-free copper tube, condenser tube, rifled tube and cable tube etc. Product application covers industrial refrigeration, electronic heat dissipation, white household appliances production and mobile communication. We have state-of-the-art equipment and automatic production line, and some of our equipment are customized and imported from German, which makes us more competitive. We also have an experienced and proven team that is committed to professionalism, innovation and honesty-based business. Currently, we are preparing to build a R&D center, with participation of experts from International Copper Association, as well as the support from famous German companies. Our core products include highly thermal conductive, electricity conductive oxygen-free copper tube used for electronic heat dissipation and mobile communication, as well as condenser tube and evaporation tube used for industrial refrigeration.

Asian Metal: Would you please tell us more about the application areas of your products?

Mr. Liu: Industrial refrigeration: mainly used for power generation, smelting, petroleum industry, chemical industry, large construction projects, shipbuilding and desalination, etc.
Electronic heat dissipation: mainly used in CPU cooler for computer and cellphone; LED heatsink, etc.
White household appliances production: mainly used for air-conditioning and household refrigeration.
Mobile communication: mainly used for rail traffic and mobile communication base station.

Asian Metal: Copper prices have been relatively low since entering 2019. The escalating trade war between China and the United States led to further decline in copper prices during May. Current prices hover at around RMB47,000/t (USD6,802/t). What's your price outlook for this year?

Mr. Liu: As the sale manager, I am more in touch with the primary market. The decreasing copper price is closely related to international and domestic situation. I personally believe that copper price trend still depends on the progress of trade negotiation and China's measure to deal with the current economic condition.

Asian Metal: What do you think of the supply-demand balance in Chinese copper tube market?

Mr. Liu: The domestic copper tube market sees supply exceeding demand now. For copper tube, price fluctuation is inevitable. Copper tube producers are mostly asset-heavy enterprises and the production of copper tube requires high investment. When market condition is favorable, copper tube producers would usually expand production, like in 2016 and 2017. And when the market is sluggish, we may easily see competition in price. Considering that the current market situation is not so good, the price competition is inevitable and might become fiercer in the future. Eventually, companies that are less competitive would be left out of the market as only the strongest survives, and the balance between supply and demand would be restored.

Asian Metal: There have been multiple reports of safety accidents both at home and abroad so far in 2019. What do you think needs to be done to ensure production safety?

Mr. Liu: We believe there are several things that need to be done.
1. Enhance the ability to recognize and control sources of danger on site;
2. Implement well-formulated regulations on safety;
3. Conduct regular safety training;
4. Management should pay more attention to production safety.

Asian Metal: In what ways do you think can enterprises energize themselves in order to meet the market demand?

Mr. Liu: Our group started out as a service provider and it is our mission to provide the best service for our customers! Transense Copper aims to become a global leader in special copper products and is also committed to providing rare services no one else can offer. We will focus on the research and development of special copper products and make our own path of innovation. We believe it is the best and only way for Transense Copper to realize its value and lead the intelligent manufacturing industry.

Asian Metal: What's your plan for future business development?

Mr. Liu: Transense Copper will strive to provide the best solutions for special copper tube customers and continue to focus on improvement and innovation.