Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: Operation of non-ferrous metal industry in 2022

Production remains stable. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the industrial added value of the non-ferrous metal industry increased by 5.2% year-on-year in 2022, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than the industrial average. The output of ten non-ferrous metals was 67.74 million tons, up 4.3% year on year. Among them, the output of refined copper was 11.06 million tons, up 4.5% year on year; Primary aluminum output was 40.21 million tons, up 4.5% year on year.

The price of bulk products fluctuated in a range, and the price of lithium carbonate rose year on year. In 2022, the price of bulk non-ferrous gold products fluctuated within a range. The average spot price of copper, aluminum, lead and zinc was 67,470 yuan/ton, 20,006 yuan/ton, 15,260 yuan/ton and 25,154 yuan/ton, respectively, with year-on-year increase of -1.5%, 5.6%, 0.1% and 11.4%. Nickel, cobalt and battery grade lithium carbonate prices rose significantly year on year, with average spot prices in 2022 up 44.1%, 18.2% and 301.2% respectively.

The import and export trade maintained rapid growth. In 2022, the total import and export trade volume of non-ferrous metals was 327.3 billion US dollars, up 20.2% year on year. In terms of imports, the import volume of copper concentrate, unwrought copper and copper materials increased by 8% and 6.2% respectively year on year, while the import of bauxite increased by 16.8% up to 125 million tons. In terms of exports, the export volume and value of unwrought aluminum and aluminum products increased by 17.6% and 33.7% respectively year-on-year.