On May 4, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association held a first-quarter press conference, noting that nonferrous metal production showed relatively rapid growth in the first quarter of 2023. Specifically, the industrial value-added of large-scale nonferrous metal enterprises increased by 5.8% year-on-year, an improvement of 0.6 percentage points over last year’s full-year growth rate and 2.8 percentage points faster than the growth rate of industrial value-added for large-scale enterprises nationwide in the first quarter. According to the newly adopted statistical criteria, the output of ten commonly used nonferrous metals reached 18.263 million tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 9.0%.

　　According to the introduction, the new statistical classification of ten commonly used nonferrous metals, compared with the previous classification, excludes mercury and adds industrial silicon. These ten metals are copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, nickel, tin, antimony, silicon, magnesium, and titanium.

　　Chen Xuesen, Vice President of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, stated that nonferrous metal production in the first quarter showed an overall positive trend. Specifically, primary aluminum production reached 10.102 million tons, turning from a 0.3% decline in the first quarter of last year to a 5.9% increase; alumina production totaled 19.784 million tons, reversing from a 3.5% decline in the first quarter of last year to a 6.3% increase; and copper product output reached 5.205 million tons, up 7.8% year-on-year, with the growth rate expanding by 1.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

　　In terms of fixed-asset investment, in the first quarter of this year, the nonferrous metals industry saw its fixed-asset investment increase by 11.9% compared to the same period last year, an increase that was 1.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate recorded in the same period last year. Among these, fixed-asset investment in mining and ore dressing rose by 17.9%, while fixed-asset investment in metalworking increased by 10.8%. On the one hand, fixed-asset investment continues to maintain double-digit growth, with the growth rate 1.2 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year; on the other hand, the growth rate of fixed-asset investment in nonferrous metal smelting and processing was 1.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the same period last year.

　　Chen Xuesen stated that China’s economy performed better than expected in the first quarter of this year, with both production and demand showing marked improvement and market confidence and expectations significantly boosted. However, the current international environment remains complex and volatile, and China’s domestic economy is still in a recovery phase. Endogenous growth drivers remain weak, and insufficient domestic demand continues to pose significant constraints. As a result, the foundation for the nonferrous metals industry to further achieve “effective quality improvements” and “reasonable quantitative growth” remains fragile. In the second quarter, China’s economy will fully enter a recovery phase. Consumption is expected to continue its strong recovery momentum, real estate investment should gradually stabilize, and export growth is likely to bottom out and begin to recover. The nonferrous metals industry may thus continue to maintain a relatively favorable outlook.