----Interview with He Jiansong General Manager Yunnan Yunfan Nonferrous Metal Co., Ltd.
Mainly engaged in production of Jinge tin ingot and with an annual capacity of 10,000t of the material, Yunnan Yunfan Nonferrous Metal Co., Ltd. put the material into production from December 2017 and keeps stable production status now. With 30 years development of Jinge tin ingot, it enters a new stage in the new era now.
Asian Metal: Hello, Mr. He, please briefly introduce your company (scale, construction date, commissioning date, production plan)
As for the history of our company, it was established in July 1988 named as Gejiu Jinge Smelter Co., Ltd. and the Jinge brand was registered in the same year, which derived from a Chinese poem meaning unrelenting and unbeatable courage. Our company produced the first batch of No.1 refined tin (JGSN-89-001) on July 23rd 1989, which was also the first batch of refined tin among local enterprises in Gejiu. We began to construct the new plant from February 2013, completing construction in 2016, and put the plant into operation from December 2017, expecting the output to be about 4,000tpy.
Asian Metal: Who are your company's targeted consumers? And what is your plan on production and sale in 2018?
Our "Jinge" tin ingot is mainly oriented to downstream tin consumption enterprises and cooperative traders. We plan to produce about 3,000t of the material in 2018, as for sales, as we withdrew the material from the market for a long time, we will expand Jinge brand recognition first and establish brand confidence for seizing market shares in the next stage and paving the way for further cooperation with downstream tin consumption enterprises.
Asian Metal: What is your company's advantage compared with other smelters?
Although Jinge tin ingot owned a long history, it was withdrawn from the market for a long time. We have rich experience in tin ingot production because of long-term engaging in smelting industry and are also armed with some technology advantages. In addition, the spirit of fearless advance continuously encourages us to march forward.
Asian Metal: The capacity of Chinese tin ingot smelters grew a lot in 2017, and what is your company's consideration to engage in tin smelting industry?
The reason why we started to engage in tin smelting is for the capacity replacement of lead smelting. With increasingly stricter environmental protection inspection, our lead smelter plans to suspend production for coordinating environmental protection requirements, and thus we focus on tin smelting for new development. As mentioned above, our company will enjoy promising achievements in such industry by technology advantage in tin smelting.
Asian Metal: What's your opinion about the Chinese demand for tin ingot in the coming few years? And who's your main targeted consumer? Will you sign a long-term order with end consumers or sell in the spot market? Have you considered getting involved in the futures market?
The demand for tin ingot will enjoy increase amid stable trend in the Chinese market as far as I'm concerned. Tin scrap, tin chemicals, tin plate and SPTE, as four major downstream industries see more tin demand besides tin plate industry. The development of new energy vehicle industry and PV industry are the major trend for new energy development strategy, and the development of these industries have large demand for tin ingot. To comply with the supply-demand relationship is a positive trend for tin ingot production. Our marketing focus is on adhering to the quality of tin production and brand re-establishing and promotion. We will sign long-term orders with end customers and sell stocks at the same time in sales. We will attempt to make arbitrage in the futures market later and will buy hedge based on market condition.
Asian Metal: Does your company engage in any other business? What's about your smelter's experience?
Owning some privileges on tin mines, we are still engage in the trade of tin raw material by selling the surplus material to other smelters. With more experience in lead smelting, our tin smelting also has a solid support of past rich experience in Jinge tin ingot. Currently, tin ingot produced by our company has a superior quality according to product index, and we will strive for more advances in smelting in the future.
Asian Metal: How do you think the supply of Burma-origin tin ore will decline in 2018? And therefore do you think tin prices will move up?
I was engaged in raw material business in Burma for two years and the supply of tin ore will gradually decrease in 2018 as far as I'm concerned. But there is news that some of Chinese tin mines will be open for exploration, and the concrete date is not clear for us, which is unlikely to make up the short supply of Burma-origin tin ore. Tin prices will grow in a certain range based on the supply-demand relationship in such slow supply transition.
Asian Metal: With the normalization of environmental protection inspection in China, smelters face higher cost and how will you do to cope with these challenges?
Under the environmental protection policies and related requirements of our country, we will also actively seek the win-win cooperation between environmental protection and development on the basis of quality assurance. The rising environmental cost of smelters is an inevitable trend, and they can only address this challenge by improving their own smelting technology and environmental treatment technology.
Asian Metal: Thank you for taking time to accept the interview, and wish a good sale for Jinge tin ingot.
