Resumen de Overcapacity in downstream refractory markets drags down 2015 demand
Attendees at China's Refractory Association meeting expressed concern regarding the serious overcapacity problem in downstream refractory industries. Capacity utilisation rates for the downstream refractory segment as a whole was reported at 70-75% for 2015, while figures for the steel sector fell to 70% capacity utlisation.
Production of the ten nonferrous products in China - including zinc, lead and copper - stood at 50.90m tonnes in 2015, up 5.8%, with growth slowing by 1.4 percentage points. Electrolytic aluminum totalled 31.41m tonnes, up 8.4% y-o-y; copper, 7.96m tonnes, up 4.8%; lead, 3.86m tonnes, down 5.3%; zinc, 6.15m tonnes, up 4.9%; and alumina 58.9m tonnes, up 9.6%.
Downstream production-cutting is expected to fall by 3-3.5% for the period 2016-2020. Crude steel production is expected to fall from 800m tonnes to 650-700m tonnes by 2020, based on 16-17kg/tonne consumption for refractories used in steel, however refractory demand in this sector is anticipated to fall by 3m tonnes.
