----Interview with Shaoping Long
General Manager
Hubei Xingnie Advanced Materials Co., Ltd.
Hubei Xingnie Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. is jointly invested and built by Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Xingnie Industrial Co., Ltd. With a registered capital of 75 million yuan (10.42 million US dollars), the company is located in Yichang, Hubei. The company, with a total investment of 520 million yuan (72.23 million US dollars) and more than 70 employees, covers an area of 100,000 square meters. The company focuses on the production of nickel and its chemicals, with an annual production capacity of over 10,000 tons of high-purity nickel sulfate and high-purity nickel chloride, and it successfully achieved mass production in February 2023.
Asian Metal: Hello, Mr. Long. Welcome to Asian Metal's interview. Please introduce your company briefly.
Mr. Long: Our company's high-purity nickel salt is mainly made of high-purity carbonyl nickel metal from Vale and electronic grade sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid from Xingfa Group. It adopts advanced production processes and equipment, and the entire production process is automated. Our products, with outstanding features such as ultra-high purity, ultra-high stability, and no organic impurities, are deeply preferred by clients from high-end electroplating and chemical plating industries. High-purity nickel salts are widely used in high-end electroplating and chemical plating, efficient catalysts, electronic materials, ternary lithium batteries, chemical reagents and other industries. Our company uses high-purity carbonyl nickel metal from Vale as the main raw material, and uses electronic grade sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid to continuously produce nickel salts for 24 hours a day.
Asian Metal: The prices of nickel cathode started to slide since the third quarter of 2023, and the prices of electroplating grade nickel sulfate fell accordingly. What do you think are the reasons for the continuous price decline?
Mr. Long: I think whether it is for nickel cathode or electroplating grade nickel sulfate, the most fundamental reason for low prices in the third quarter in 2023 is the sluggish demand. The three major consumption sectors of nickel cathode, namely the stainless steel industry, the alloy industry, and the electroplating industry, had overall poor demand in the second half of the year. Against the backdrop of shrunken demand, the supply of nickel plates kept increasing, which inevitably resulted in the continuous price decrease. Based on the data of the third and fourth quarters, the domestic nickel plate production in the second half of the year totaled 150,000 tons, an increase of about 49% compared to the same period last year.
Asian Metal: Since the nickel plate market sees oversupply, what about the electroplating grade nickel sulfate market?
Long: As far as I am concerned, the supply of electroplating grade nickel sulfate became excessive as early as ten years ago. The oversupply problem becomes increasingly serious currently as some consumption fields turned from electroplating grade nickel sulfate to battery grade nickel sulfate. The current capacity utilization rate of electroplating grade nickel sulfate in China is only 60% or so.
Asian Metal: Overall demand for electroplating grade nickel sulfate in the latter half of 2023 was not as sound as expected. What do you think is the reason?
Mr. Long: We felt the same as most of other companies in the market in the latter half of 2023. Indeed, the demand for electroplating grade nickel sulfate stoody beyond our expectation. As part of the manufacturing industry in China, in 2023 the overall electroplating market did not perform up to our expectation, no matter in terms of export or domestic markets. The latter half of 2023 witnessed relatively improved market performance compared to that in the first half, but the general demand was still soft. Firstly, the domestic manufacturing industry indeed faced decreasing orders, and there were notable decreases in orders either for chemical grade or for electroplating grade nickel sulfate. Secondly, some electroplating grade nickel sulfate consumers who used to be in China moved out to relocate themselves in Mexico, India or Southeast Asian countries, where they could find cheaper labor costs, and this led to shrunken demand from our end consumption markets.
Asian Metal: In the fourth quarter of 2023, in view of cost pressure, are there any consumers of the electroplating industry chose to replace electroplating grade nickel sulfate with battery grade nickel sulfate? What impacts do you think does this impose on the electroplating market?
Mr. Long: In my personal view, this is what is happening indeed and it is reasonable. Now industrial enterprises in China from different sectors all face growing competition, Therefore, they have to consider cutting costs and increasing efficiencies. Under such backgrounds, some low-end manufacturing companies choose to replace electroplating grade nickel sulfate with battery grade nickel sulfate in their production. But as battery grade nickel sulfate has higher impurities, it imposes nearly no impacts upon high-end products. Such replacement could only affect demand for low-end electroplating grade nickel sulfate while has no negative impacts upon the high-end market.
Asian Metal: Are there any new growth points in the consumption market of the electroplating industry in 2023?
Long: The overall demand in the electroplating industry throughout 2023 was unsatisfied, but those in the new energy vehicle industry and the solar PV industry still could be seen as new growth points for consumption. For example, electroplating grade nickel sulfate could be used in interiors, chassis anti-corrosion parts and other parts of new energy vehicles.
Asian Metal: What's your opinion about the demand in the domestic electroplating grade nickel sulfate industry in 2024 and which industry would have a relatively good performance in terms of demand?
Long: We are still optimistic about demand in the future electroplating market. As the new energy technologies are becoming more and more mature and popular, the demand for electroplating grade nickel sulfate from the new energy vehicle industry and the solar PV industry would keep increasing. In addition, the demand for electroplating grade nickel sulfate from the consumer electronics industry would also perform well in 2024.
Asian Metal: What are your company’s future development goals and plans?
Mr. Long: Hubei Xingnie New Materials Co., Ltd. will insist on providing high-end products in the future. We will contribute our modest efforts to China's electroplating industry with the highest quality products, the most stable quality control and the best services, to create higher benefits for our clients, while adhering to technological innovation and constant improvement in the product lines. There is no updated plan for new project yet. Our short-term goal is to reach full production of the current 10,000t of high-purity nickel sulfate and high-purity nickel chloride.
Asian Metal: Thanks for your sharing! I wish Hubei Xingnie New Materials a prosperous business, abundant financial resources, and a flourishing career.
Mr. Long: I would also like to thank Asian Metal for providing us with this platform where we can learn, communicate and speak out.
