Demand on high-purity low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powder looks promising
----Interview with Shafei Huang
General Manager
Hunan Hongcheng New Material Technology Co., Ltd.
- Hunan Hongcheng New Material Technology Co., Ltd., established in 2021 and located in Zhuzhou, Hunan, is a non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling industry enterprise. Their main product is high-purity and low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powder. The company is a leading enterprise in the field of tantalum and niobium metal powder industry, as well as a national high-tech enterprise and a new material enterprise in Hunan Province.
- Asian Metal: Hi Mr. Huang, welcome to the interview. Please briefly tell us about your company.
- Mr. Huang: Hello, thank you very much for your kind invitation from Asian Metal. At present, our company's production condition is good with normal operation and stable output. At the same time, as an innovative company, we are further improving product quality and reducing production costs through technological innovation and process optimization. Our annual production capacity of high-purity low-oxygen tantalum powder reaches 50 tons and our annual production capacity of low-oxygen niobium powder reaches 70 tons, with the total production capacity of tantalum and niobium powder of 120 tons.
- Asian Metal: What is the supply volume of high-purity and low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powder in China in 2023, and is it expected to increase in 2024?
- Mr. Huang: In 2023, the supply volume of high-purity and low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powder in China reached more than 100 tons, which shows an overall growth trend, mainly due to the strong demand of the downstream industry. We expect the supply to continue to grow by no lower than 10% in 2024, subject to a variety of factors including demand changes, raw material prices and capacity constraints in the market.
- Asian Metal: What is the demand on high-purity and low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powder in China in 2023, and what is the expected situation in 2024? Will the proportion of downstream industry applications change significantly?
- Mr. Huang: In 2023, the demand on high-purity and low-oxygen tantalum and niobium powders also showed an increasing trend with a total consumption volume of around 100t, including tantalum and niobium alloy powders and related high-entropy alloy powders, especially in the fields of aerospace, electronic information and new energy applications continue to have strong demand. Demand is expected to continue to grow in 2024, with an estimated growth rate of more than 10%. In terms of the proportion of downstream industry applications, we note that the proportion of applications in the fields of superconducting materials, aerospace and new energy is gradually increasing, while the electronic information field remains stable.
- Asian Metal: Will the rising price of tantalum and niobium raw materials in H1 of 2024 have a huge impact on the downstream metal powder industry?
- Mr. Huang: The rising price of tantalum and niobium raw materials indeed had a certain impact on the downstream industry, but the specific degree of impact varied from company to company. Our company reduces production costs by strengthening raw material procurement management, optimizing production processes and improving product quality, so as to mitigate the impact of raw material price fluctuations.
- Asian Metal: Due to the recently tight supply of niobium oxide market, the price remains firm at a high level, do you think the current high price of niobium will affect the end user demand?
- Mr. Huang: Currently, the tight supply of niobium oxide market and the continued high price at around RMB380-390/kg (USD52.3-53.7/kg) will indeed have a certain impact on end users, but the extent of the impact will vary according to the user industry and specific needs. Some price-sensitive users may purchase less or look for alternatives, while some just-in-need users may continue to purchase. Our company will pay close attention to the market dynamics and customer demand changes, flexible adjustment of sales strategy and product pricing.
- Asian Metal: Since the metal powder production cycle has a certain lag, how to keep balance between the cost of raw materials and sales price?
- Mr. Huang: The lag of metal powder production cycle has indeed brought us challenges, but we have balanced raw material costs and sales prices through a series of measures. The first is to strengthen market research and forecasting, and make purchasing and sales plans in advance. The second is to establish long-term and stable cooperative relations with suppliers and customers to ensure the stability of raw material supply and sales channels. The third is to reduce production costs and improve product competitiveness through technological innovation and process optimization.
- Asian Metal: What do you think of the market of tantalum and niobium metal powder in H2, 2024?
- Mr. Huang: Judging from the current market situation, the tantalum and niobium powder market is expected to maintain stable growth in the second half of this year. As the downstream industry continues to develop and demand increases, we expect the supply and demand for tantalum and niobium powders to continue to grow. At the same time, we will pay close attention to market dynamics and policy changes, and flexibly adjust production and sales strategies.
- Asian Metal: What is the company's future development plan or the advantageous products that will be focused on in the later stage?
- Mr. Huang: In the future, our company will focus on providing high-purity and low-oxygen products and services for the market, and provide customers with high-end products such as high-purity refractory rare metal powder and related high-entropy alloy powder that can be customized with various sizes, so as to meet the demand for high-quality metal powder in aerospace, electronic information, new energy, superconducting materials and other fields. We try to achieve our goal of "empowering the strong foundation for the localization of 'China core', 'China screen' and 'China material'". At the same time, we will also actively explore and develop new metal powder products to meet the diversified needs of the market.
- Asian Metal: Thank you Mr. Huang, I wish your company a thriving business.
- Mr. Huang: Thank you.
