- The 2nd World Selenium & Manganese Forum hosted by Asian Metal and sponsored by Chongqing Kangmeng Trade Co., Ltd. was held during April 23rd-25th in Changsha, Hunan. The meeting covered special steel, stainless steel, electrolytic manganese, manganese ore, selenium powder as well as selenium dioxide markets and was widely supported by participants from the selenium and manganese industries. Nearly one hundred representatives attended the conference.
- Frank Chen, the chairperson, announced the official start of the meeting at 8:50am on April 24th. Changbai Yu, General Manager of Chongqing Kangmeng Trade Co., Ltd., the sponsor for the meeting, introduced the company's general information and the rapid development of the electrolytic manganese business in recent years, wishing a success of the conference.
- Mingyang Hu, Chief Consultant of China Special Steel Enterprises Association, analyzed the characteristics, transformation and upgrading of special steel industry. He summarized a very poor special steel industry in China but believed that the industry was still promising. Afterwards, Zhuzhong Tan, President of the Chinese National Association of EMM Plants Directors delivered a report of "Chinese Manganese Metal Market Review of 2013 and Outlook for 2014", pointing that it was crucial for producers of electrolytic manganese to lower production cost and promote technology upgrading.
- After a tea break, Wenlong Yang, the Marketing Director of Yunnan Copper Science & Technology Development Corporation Limited shared the report of "Chinese Selenium Market Review in 2013 and Future Market Analysis" with participants. He believed that selenium prices are unlikely to rebound in 2014 and suppliers should make progress among fierce competition, focusing on the development of selenium industry and keeping in line with economic principles. Then Zhengmao Zeng, the Vice President of China Tycoon Group, posted a report of "Electrolytic Manganese and Manganese Alloy", talking about that the core competence of electrolytic manganese. He stated that demand for electrolytic manganese from steel mills in China and abroad has been consistent in recent years, but lower production costs would be helpful for maintaining competitiveness of electrolytic manganese against manganese alloy. Then Meixi Wu, General Manager of Changsha Zhonggui Non-ferrous Metal Co., Ltd., appealed for participants to deal with challenges in selenium industry calmly. She highlighted opportunities and challenges for selenium industry in China and supplemented important data and analysis on selenium output as well as downstream demand in China.
- Degen Chen, Chairman of Manganese Industry Association of Xiangxi Autonomous Region and Xiangxi Debang Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., delivered a report of "To Build a Fair and Equitable Environment for Electrolytic Manganese Metal by Taking Advantages and Eliminating Outdated Capacities". He pointed out some misunderstandings on electrolytic industry development and appealed for Chinese enterprises to enhance economic profits through researching energy conservation and consumption reduction, upgrading technologies and management levels instead of seeking for large-scale business only. Samarth Agarawal, Senior Analyst of Indian Rise Chemicals Industries Co., Ltd., talked about the latest application and market prospect of selenium industry. He was bullish about the market and believed that demand from China would surely boost the changes of global selenium industry considerably. At last, Gang Xia, the General Manager of Million Link (Tianjin) International Trading Co., Ltd., analyzed the application outlook of imported manganese ore in Chinese electrolytic manganese production. Though the pattern of relying on domestic origin manganese ore with imported materials as auxiliary for electrolytic manganese production has not yet changed in China, it is expected that more and more plants would produce with imported manganese ore as grades of domestic materials drop in general and mining costs increase.
- Finally, attendees discussed about current situations. Zhengmao Zeng, Vice President of China Tycoon Group, Degen Chen, President of Western Hunan Autonomous Prefecture Manganese Industry Association and president of Xiangxi Debang Chemical Co., Ltd., Desheng Fang, Sales Manager of Hubei Changyang Hongxin Industrial Group Co., Ltd., Yongsheng Liu, Purchase Manager of Shandong Taishan Steel Group Co., Ltd. and Changbai Yu, General Manager of Chongqing Kangmeng Trade Co., Ltd. discussed with topics of "Chinese electrolytic manganese production pattern in 2014", "When will Chinese electrolytic manganese exports get out of smuggling and no invoice and see normalization?" and "What is the core competitiveness of electrolytic manganese compared with substitutes of silicomanganese and ferromanganese?" Selenium market was discussed about afterwards by participants including Xiankai Meng, Sales Manager of Guangdong Vital Materials Co., Ltd., Tieguang Zhao, General Manager of Hunan Jvfa Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Bingquan Liu, Hunan Guofu Selenium Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Nong Kang, General Manager of Xiangtan Zhongxin New Materials Co., Ltd. and Mingjia Zhou, Analyst from Kunming Fanya Nonferrous Metals Exchange, with topics of "Impact of increased domestic selenium output on import market", "How e-commerce platform will influence selenium market?" and "Will selenium prices keep stable at low level or rebound again in 2014 as they slumped in 2013?", and representatives also discussed with other attendees in the conference.
- The 2nd World Selenium & Manganese Forum hosted by Asian Metal and sponsored by Chongqing Kangmeng Trade Co., Ltd. came to a close at 6:00pm under the support of every participant.
- Asian Metal has held various forums and summits of minor metals and has been actively supported by insiders. Thanks to all of you. Wish to meet you again in the 3rd World Selenium & Manganese Forum.
Mingyang Hu, Chief Consultant of China Special Steel Enterprises Association
Zhuzhong Tan, President of the Chinese National Association of EMM Plants Directors
Wenlong Yang, the Marketing Director of Yunnan Copper Science & Technology Development Corporation Limited
Zhengmao Zeng, the Vice President of China Tycoon Group
Meixi Wu, General Manager of Changsha Zhonggui Non-ferrous Metal Co., Ltd.
Degen Chen, Chairman of Manganese Industry Association of Xiangxi Autonomous Region and Xiangxi Debang Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.
Samarth Agarawal, Senior Analyst of Indian Rise Chemicals Industries Co., Ltd.
Gang Xia, the General Manager of Million Link (Tianjin) International Trading Co., Ltd.
