In December 2018, rubber prices rose as trade tensions between the United States and China cooled. However, as the world economy is still facing multiple risks, the rubber market is under pressure of falling prices.

Wu Huangying, secretary-general of the Vietnamese Rubber Association, said that although there were still many difficulties, the export volume of natural rubber, rubber products and rubber wood was increasing. He disclosed that the rubber price subsidy will continue to be implemented between now and March 1, when the United States and China withdrew from the tax increase.

Looking ahead to the first half of 2019, the export of Vietnamese rubber to China, the largest market, will also slow down as China’s economic growth slows down. In order to achieve sustainable growth of rubber export, he suggested that Vietnamese enterprises should take the initiative to expand the market and avoid excessive dependence on the Chinese market.

According to the statistics of Vietnam Customs General Administration, in December 2018, Vietnam’s rubber export volume reached 190,000 tons, with an export volume of 230 million US dollars. Its export volume and export volume increased by 5.8% and 2.9% annually, while its export volume increased by 12.7% and its export volume decreased by 5.6% year-on-year.

According to Dow Jones on February 12, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said that OPEC’s share of the global oil market continued to decline, as the organization’s oil production stagnated and U.S. producers’oil production gradually increased.

The OPEC member states, led by Saudi Arabia, have most of the world’s oil reserves, but production has stagnated in recent years, while funds have poured into American shale oil producers.

As a result, OPEC’s share of global oil supply has declined. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in its report to clients, said it expects to maintain this momentum between 2019 and 2024 due to production cuts, sanctions and inadequate investment.

In 2018, OPEC reached an agreement with 10 non-OPEC oil producers, including Russia, to cut crude oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day in the first half of this year, which is one of the measures aimed at curbing market oversupply and boosting oil prices.

In addition, the bank expects that OPEC’s new capacity in the next six years will be lower than that in the past six years.

Between 2013 and 2018, new projects will bring about a total of 7 million barrels per day of new oil production to OPEC, while potential new projects between 2019 and 2024 will bring about nearly 4 million barrels per day of new oil production.

Sanctions are expected to further limit Iranian production, which could fall below 10 million barrels a day in Saudi Arabia.

So Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects OPEC’s supply to drop from 31.9 million barrels a day in 2018 to about 29 million barrels a day in 2024, and its market share will decline accordingly in the medium term.

According to Houston Bloomberg News, as OPEC cuts production and U.S. sanctions against Venezuela begin to curb its exports, the number of foreign oil flowing into the U.S. coast is declining.

In January, OPEC and its partners’crude oil shipments to the United States fell to 1.41 million barrels a day, the lowest level in five years, according to data from cargo tracking and intelligence firm Klager. The reduction in Iraqi imports and the dramatic reduction in Saudi Arabia’s production have contributed to the decline in transport volumes.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s exports to the United States fell by nearly 30%. The reason is that nearly half of the crude oil has not yet entered the U.S. ports, and U.S. sanctions may leave the remaining crude oil in the Gulf. According to Kogler, nearly 7.6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil are floating in the Gulf of Mexico.

I. Basic Situation of Industry Operation

(1) Production has increased steadily and investment has recovered. In 2018, the output of ten kinds of non-ferrous metals was 56.88 million tons, an increase of 6% year on year. Among them, the output of copper, aluminium, lead and zinc was 9.03 million tons, 35.8 million tons, 5.11 million tons and 5.68 million tons, respectively, which increased by 8.0%, 7.4%, 9.8% and -3.2% year on year, while the output of copper and aluminium was 17.16 million tons and 45.55 million tons, respectively, which increased by 14.5% and 2.6% year on year. In 2018, the investment in fixed assets in non-ferrous industry increased by 1.2% year on year. Among them, the investment in mining and mineral processing decreased by 8% year on year, while the investment in smelting and processing increased by 3.2% year on year. The scale expansion has shifted to increasing technological innovation such as environmental protection and safety, as well as research and development of high-end materials and new technologies.

(2) Price volatility has fallen, and the benefits of the industry have declined substantially. In 2018, the average spot prices of copper and lead were 50689 yuan/ton and 19126 yuan/ton, respectively, rising by 2.9% and 4.1% year-on-year respectively, with an increase of 26 and 22 percentage points. The average spot prices of aluminium and zinc were 14262 yuan/ton and 23674 yuan/ton respectively, down by 1.8% and 1.7% year-on-year. The main business income of non-ferrous Enterprises above the scale is 5428.9 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8% over the same period of last year; the profit of 185.5 billion yuan, a decrease of 6.1% over the same period of last year; the profit of mining and processing is 41.6 billion yuan, which is the same as that of last year; the profit of smelting and processing is 67.9 billion yuan and 75.6 billion yuan, respectively, a decrease of 10.2% and 5.6% over the same period of last year, especially that of aluminium industry, whose profit declines by

(3) The situation of import and export has changed and positive progress has been made in overseas investment. The annual export of unwrought rolled aluminium and aluminium products was 5.8 million tons, an increase of 20.9% over the same period of last year. With the implementation of the policy of prohibiting foreign garbage entry, the import of copper scrap dropped 32.2% and the import of refined copper increased 15.5% year on year. Overseas resources development has been vigorously promoted, and overseas projects such as China Aluminum Group, Minmetals Group, Zhongjin Lingnan and Weiqiao have made new progress.

(4) Structural reform on the supply side has been deepened and the transformation and upgrading of the industry has been accelerated. Production capacity control and restructuring achieved results. More than 3.3 million tons of electrolytic aluminium production capacity was transferred to energy-rich areas such as Inner Mongolia and Yunnan through capacity replacement. China Aluminum integrated Yunnan metallurgy, Shandong Weiqiao Holdings Co., Ltd. and other joint restructuring continued to advance. De-leveraging has made progress, with the industry’s asset-liability ratio of 62.2%, down 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier. With the acceleration of filling plate, 7050 full-size aluminum alloy thick plate has been licensed to install, aluminum air battery and nano-ceramic aluminum alloy have been industrialized, energy consumption of copper and aluminium smelting has been declining, and the level of green development has been continuously improved.

II. Problems Faced

(1) Costs are rising and consumption is sluggish, and the pressure on the operation of the industry is increasing. From the production side, affected by the rising cost of raw and auxiliary materials such as minerals, raw materials, coal, electricity and the increasing investment in environmental protection, the main business income cost per 100 yuan in the industry in 2018 is higher than the average industrial level of 3.97 yuan, an increase of 0.58 yuan over the same period of last year, especially the average comprehensive cost of electrolytic aluminium. From the consumer side, the traditional consumption fields such as real estate, electricity, automobile and household appliances continue to weaken, and the new application fields with large quantity, wide range and strong driving force need to be expanded. In addition, private enterprises are an important part of the non-ferrous industry, but because of the high cost of financing and heavy non-operational burden, there are still barriers in undertaking major projects and other aspects, and the development pressure is greater.

(2) The low-end surplus and shortcomings are prominent, and the deep-seated problems of industrial structure are prominent. Strictly controlling the new capacity of electrolytic aluminium is still arduous. There is a risk of overcapacity in some low and middle-end processing areas. There is also a rapid expansion of stage capacity in some emerging areas such as lithium salts and precursors of ternary materials. There are shortcomings in high-end materials and green smelting. The key non-ferrous materials for aerospace and integrated circuits are still dependent on imports. In 2018, the unit price of aluminium imports is 1.9 times that of exports. Some smelting industries still lack industrialized technical support to achieve special emission limits. Pollution prevention and control is still an important bottleneck restricting the green development of the industry.

(3) The international trade situation is complex and the development environment is becoming increasingly severe. With the increase of uncertainties in the global economic trend and the substantial impact of trade friction, it is difficult to sustain the sustained growth of aluminium exports. The blockage of exports of non-ferrous terminal consumer goods such as electromechanical, automotive and other non-ferrous consumer goods will also increase the pressure of industry operation. Because of the strong financial attribute of non-ferrous metals, the indirect impact of trade frictions on the industry is even greater than the direct impact, impacting market confidence, prices and investment, affecting the development of the industry.

Key Work in 2019

(1) Make excellent increments and accelerate the innovative development of new non-ferrous materials and new formats. We will expand the upstream and downstream cooperation mechanism of civil aircraft aluminium materials into the cooperation mechanism of civil aircraft materials, promote the implementation of key annual tasks, track the progress of new energy vehicle platform construction, strengthen supervision and coordination, and form annual symbolic work results. Implementing the new material “filling board”, establishing the database of non-ferrous new materials and the industry testing and evaluation center, and improving the basic system of non-ferrous new materials. At the same time, we should promote the deep integration of non-ferrous industry and the Internet, build advanced non-ferrous metal industry clusters, expand application areas, and explore new modes and new formats of industry development.

(2) Optimizing stock and improving the level of intelligent and green development of industrial chain. To formulate guidelines for the construction of intelligent mines and factories for non-ferrous metals and guide the construction of intelligent standardization in the industry. Focusing on the green manufacturing shortcomings of traditional industries such as copper, lead, zinc, tungsten and magnesium in green smelting, ultra-low emission, harmless disposal of waste residue and comprehensive utilization of resources, we should speed up the research and development and promotion of applicable technologies, guide some industrial agglomeration areas to carry out technology supply-demand docking, and guide enterprises to accelerate green development.

(3) Coordinating policies to promote the standardized development of the industry. Promote the structural reform of the supply side, continue to maintain the high-pressure situation of strictly controlling the new capacity of electrolytic aluminium, strictly implement capacity replacement, and guide the high-quality development of alumina and electrolytic aluminium industry through market-oriented and legalized ways. Strengthen policy coordination and service, coordinate and promote industry cost reduction, form a development pattern of mutual promotion between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, consolidate Sino-Russian cooperation mechanism, improve foreign cooperation platform, guide industry to cope with trade frictions and deepen international cooperation. Revising and promulgating industry normative conditions, reforming management methods, and strengthening the guiding role of normative conditions in promoting industry technological progress and normative development. Strengthen the analysis of hot issues, stabilize market expectations, and promote the smooth operation of the industry.

With the completion of Hengli Petrochemical’s 20 million tons/year refining capacity, China’s refining capacity reached 831 million tons/year by the end of 2018. On January 16, the China Petroleum Economic and Technological Research Institute released the Report on the Development of Oil and Gas Industry at Home and Abroad in 2018 (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”), pointing out that, judging from the comprehensive scale, product quality, energy consumption and integration level, the domestic refining capacity in 2018 was at least 190 million tons per year surplus.

With the rapid growth of refining capacity, the domestic refining industry must accelerate the transformation and upgrading, and further take the road of high-quality development. At the same time, the rise of private advanced refineries and the integration and transfer of traditional local refineries will continue to affect the overall pattern of the refinery industry.

Rapid Rise of Large-scale Geotechnical Refining as the Main Force of New Capacity Increase

According to the data of the Report, in 2018, Hengli Petrochemical Company had 20 million tons/year refining capacity, and China added 33.9 million tons/year refining capacity. At the same time, according to incomplete statistics, six local refineries, such as Haike Chemical, Xinhai Petrochemical and Kokoda Petrochemical, have eliminated a total of 11.65 million tons per year of refining capacity. In total, China’s annual net oil refining capacity increased by 22.25 million tons per year, with private refineries as the main growth force.

From the data, it can be seen that the transformation and upgrading of local refineries are accelerating and showing a trend of differentiation. With the strong support of the local government, some large private enterprises listed in the top 500 of China continue to promote the construction of large-scale refining and petrochemical integration projects with bases, scale, advanced technology and “main oil and auxiliary”. In 2018, Hengli Petrochemical will build 20 million tons/year refining capacity; in 2019, Zhejiang Petrochemical (Phase I) will be built, adding 20 million tons/year refining capacity. By 2020 alone, with these two enterprises, China will add 40 million tons/year refining capacity.

The report points out that with the successive production of large-scale local private refining projects, China’s crude oil processing capacity will increase by 32 million tons per year in 2019, its total refining capacity will reach 863 million tons per year, and its excess capacity will rise to 120 million tons per year. The refining capacity of private enterprises will increase to 235 million tons per year, and the proportion of refining capacity in China will increase to 27.2% from 25.6% last year. The number of ten million tons of refineries in China will increase to 29, of which two are from private enterprises and the scale is world-class.

The data show that Shenghong Petrochemical Company has built 16 million tons/year refining capacity, Zhejiang Petrochemical Company (Phase II) 20 million tons/year refining capacity is under planning, 15 million tons/year petrochemical industry and 16 million tons/year refining capacity of Huatong Jinggang Petrochemical Company are being publicized by the sea, the latter is for introducing foreign investment projects, 20 million tons/year refining capacity of Xinhua Petrochemical Company is being publicized by environmental assessment, and Shida Science and Technology 15 million tons/year refining capacity is being publicized. Ten thousand tons/year refining capacity has entered the approval stage. These capacity may be released by 2025.

Accelerate the integration of backward production capacity and accelerate the elimination of small and medium-sized refineries

With the rise of large private refineries, some small and medium private refineries are accelerating their integration. Shandong Province is the centralized area of China’s georefining, with the production capacity exceeding 60% of the total capacity of georefining. The largest sales area of refined oil in Shandong Province is Shandong Province. Outward radiation can be transported by steam to North and Northeast China, by rail to Northwest and Southwest China, and by water to East and South China.

In recent years, the state has gradually increased its efforts to eliminate and integrate backward refining capacity. On January 9, 2018, China issued the Notice on the Special Treatment of Serious Violations and Breaches of Credit in the Oil Refining Field, which focused on the treatment of serious violations in capacity building, safety, environmental protection, energy conservation, quality, taxation and operation of petroleum products produced from crude oil and fuel oil by processing and refining. Enterprises with dishonest behavior. The circular further implements the industrial policy requirements of “Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on the Structural Adjustment of the Petrochemical Industry to Promote Transformation and Increase Benefits”, “Guiding Catalogue of Industrial Structure Adjustment (2011 edition) (Amendment)” and “Planning and Distribution Plan for the Petrochemical Industry” (Development and Reform Industry [2014] 2208), and strictly prohibits the construction of new and expanded refining units without authorization.

According to the statistics of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, in the first half of 2018, the number of enterprises of more than 1666 sizes decreased nationwide. Among them, there are 1288 refining and chemical enterprises (123 refining and 1565 chemical enterprises).

Also at the beginning of the year, the announcement on issues related to the levy and management of refined oil consumption tax (State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 1, 2018) blocked tax avoidance loopholes in raw materials. The VAT reform implemented in May has blocked the tax avoidance loopholes in the factory to a certain extent and further rectified the market.

Due to the intensification of renovation efforts, Shandong Geotechnical Refining has also developed differently. According to the principle of “optimization and restructuring, reduction integration, high pressure and low pressure, and integration of refining and chemical industry”, Shandong Province will transfer the reduction integration step by step for local refineries with refining capacity of 5 million tons per year or less, and the reduction and reduction refining capacity will be 1/3 by 2025. At the same time, refineries have accelerated downstream extension, from “one oil dominant” to “both oil and petrochemical” transformation.

Take a differentiated and environmentally friendly road to cope with fierce market competition

The pattern of diversified competition has been formed and will develop with the further development of China’s petrochemical industry. In the oil refining field, BP will build a new 200,000 tons/year lubricating oil blending plant in Tianjin in the third phase, and Shell will build a 10,000 tons project in Qingdao in the second phase of refining catalyst. In the field of oil sales, BP will build 1000 gas stations in China in the next five years. Shell also has plans to build large-scale additional gas stations.

For refining and chemical enterprises, under the increasingly fierce market competition, we must continue to vigorously eliminate backward production capacity, strictly control the increment, and replace backward production capacity with advanced production capacity. For the whole refining industry, we should continue to promote the construction of refinery bases, parks and regionalization. It is suggested that some fuel refineries should turn to material refineries in combination with the characteristics of crude oil and equipment, and pay attention to the development of differentiation and specialization.

It should be noted that 2018 has been described by many media as the “environmental storm” year. In the new year, the intensity of environmental renovation will not decline. Over the past year, China’s main refineries have completed the upgrading of oil quality and the replacement of oil products. Some local refineries also have the ability to produce the 6-standard refined oil by introducing advanced technology. In 2019, China will supply all kinds of gasoline and diesel oil to the country 6. Refineries should arrange reasonable dispatch and replacement of gasoline and diesel oil to achieve a smooth transition.

At the same time, the report pointed out that domestic refineries should continue to promote energy saving and emission reduction, and promote advanced energy-saving technologies, such as enhanced coke burning in catalytic cracking units, high-efficiency stripping in catalytic cracking units, and accelerate the upgrading and transformation project construction, such as focusing on sewage treatment upgrading, sulfur and yellow tail gas treatment and other special treatment projects.

According to sources, Sierra Leone Mining Holdings Limited plans to export 600,000 tons of bauxite to China in 2019.

According to the source, the annual production capacity of the company’s bauxite mine is 2.4 million tons, and in 2018 it will reach 2 million tons. Bauxite production is expected to reach 2.3 million tons this year. It is reported that the company will build two new washing plants, which are expected to be put into operation in July this year. The monthly output of bauxite is expected to increase from 160,000 tons to 200,000 tons.

At present, the company mainly exports bauxite to Romania and Canada, with no stock in hand.

The producer mainly produces 49-50% active silica and 3.5% Max bauxite. At present, the price is US$37-38 per ton offshore from Sierra Leone and the freight to China is US$20-23 per ton.

They will use ships with a cargo carrying capacity of 55,000 tons.

It has been learned that recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) officially released World Energy Outlook 2018 (hereinafter referred to as “Outlook”) in Beijing. The report looks forward to the global energy development prospects by 2040, and gives high affirmation to the development of new energy in China.

At the Outlook conference, Laura Koch, chief energy model officer of the International Energy Agency, said: For economies that rely more on light industry, services and digital technology, electricity is increasingly becoming the preferred “fuel”. By 2040, electricity demand will increase by 90% compared with the current demand, which is nearly twice the current demand for electricity in the United States; nearly half of all cars in the world will be electric vehicles, and the proportion of electricity in the final energy consumption will increase to nearly one third.

Ms. Laura Koch also said that at present, China has become a global leader in carbon emission reduction, leading the world in the development of wind power, photovoltaic, electric vehicles and emerging low-carbon technologies, but its core still needs to explore how to further accelerate the pace of China’s low-carbon development on the basis of affordable economy and achieve the popularization and application of low-carbon technologies. At the same time, China also needs to focus on how to further enhance the flexibility of the power system in order to further achieve large-scale access to renewable energy.

Prospect points out that by 2040, 20% of the increase in global electricity demand will come from China’s motor demand. This forecast is also in line with the actual situation of electric vehicle manufacturing and market worldwide. China is already the leader of the electric vehicle industry. In the future, China’s leading edge will continue to be maintained.

Prospect shows that with the increasing competitiveness of solar photovoltaic, its installed capacity will exceed wind power by 2025, hydropower by 2030 and coal power by 2040. The proportion of renewable energy generation will increase from 25% to 40%. China’s nuclear power output will surpass that of the United States and the European Union by 2030. The promotion of global carbon emission reduction depends on China’s contribution.

While highlighting new energy sources, Prospect also analyses the future development trend of global oil and gas: car oil consumption will peak in the next five years or so; however, petrochemical, truck, aircraft and shipping industries will still make oil demand rise; by 2025, the proportion of the United States in the growth of global oil and gas production will reach more than half.

In addition, nearly a fifth of the world’s oil and a quarter of its natural gas are produced in the United States; the shale revolution will put tremendous pressure on traditional oil and gas exporters; and natural gas will surpass coal as the second largest fuel in the global energy structure. Global natural gas use will grow by 45% by 2030.

Under the trend of global energy transformation and the fourth industrial revolution, China will play an increasingly important role. Nowadays, China’s photovoltaic industry and electric vehicle industry have become national business cards, and more new energy industries are developing rapidly. China is also a firm supporter of the Paris Accord and will contribute to and set an example for the global carbon reduction.

With the development of China’s “coal to gas” project, the demand for natural gas has increased sharply, while domestic production is far from being met, and natural gas imports have increased substantially. In 2017, China’s LNG imports surpassed that of Korea and became the second largest LNG importer in the world after Japan. In 2018, China surpassed Japan and Germany to become the world’s largest natural gas importer.

According to Ann Xunsi’s statistics, in 2018, Japan imported 82.93 million tons of LNG, China imported 53.76 million tons of LNG, plus about 51 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas imported from Central Asia and Myanmar. According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, the total import of natural gas in China reached 90.39 million tons in 2018, an increase of 31.9% over the previous year. With the improvement of infrastructure such as pipelines and LNG receiving stations, the scale of China’s natural gas imports will be further expanded.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) Natural Gas Report 2018, China’s natural gas demand is expected to grow by 60% by 2023 due to air pollution reduction policies. China is expected to account for 37% of global gas consumption growth between 2017 and 2023. By 2023, the proportion of imports in China’s natural gas supply will rise from 39% to 45%.

In 2019, some large copper producers have published their copper output reports in 2018. SMM has sorted out the copper output of several well-known copper mining enterprises in 2018 and their planned output in 2019 for readers’reference. Meanwhile, SMM predicts that the global copper production will increase by about 500,000 tons in 2019, with a growth rate of 2.4%.

Antofagasta’s annual copper output in 2018 was 725,300 tons, up 3% from a year earlier.

Antofagasta’s copper production jumped to 220,000 tons in the fourth quarter of 2018, up 16.8% from the previous quarter and 177,800 tons in the same period last year. The company’s total copper output in 2018 was 725,300 tons, an increase of 3% over the previous year. The company expects to increase capital expenditure by 2019, expected to reach $1.2 billion, some of which will be used to expand its Luos Pelambres mine in Chile. Copper production in the mine already accounts for half of Antofagasta’s copper production.

The latest news company is evaluating a project to build a new concentrator at Centinela Mine at a cost of about $3 billion. The company expects copper production to be between 750,000 and 790,000 tons in 2019.

Copper output of Minmetals Minerals decreased by 15% to 386,800 tons in 2018

Minmetals Resources (01208) announced that Kinsevere produced 185,000 tons of electrolytic copper in the fourth quarter of the three months ending December 31, 2018, a 9% decrease over the same period last year. In 2018, the output of Kinsevere electrolytic copper was 79.7 million tons, a decrease of 1% compared with the same period last year. The company’s copper output totaled 386,800 tons, down 15% year-on-year; zinc output 223,000 tons, up 198% year-on-year; lead output 454,000 tons, up 71% year-on-year; molybdenum output 1961 tons, up 37% year-on-year.

OZ Minerals Australia’s copper production in 2018 was better than expected by 3.5% year-on-year growth.

On January 23, Australian mining giant OZ Minerals announced that gold and copper production in 2018 was better than expected. Oz said that copper production in 2018 was 115,998 tons, including 110,111 tons of copper from the large Prominent Hill mine, which was higher than the previously estimated range of 100,000 to 110,000 tons. The mine’s copper output in 2017 was 112,008 tons. Oz Minerals expects to produce 95,000-105,000 tons of copper in January last year.

Oyu Tolgoi expects to produce 125,000-155,000 tons of copper in 2019 and become the third largest copper producer in the world by 2025.

Oyu Tolgoi expects to produce 125,000-155,000 tons of copper this year. In 2018, Mongolian copper and gold mines will produce 159,100 tons of copper, an increase of 1.1% over 2017. Turquoise Hill expects Oyu Tolgoi copper production to peak in 2025 and become the third largest copper producer in the world. Turquoise Hill expects the company to produce more than 550,000 tons of copper and more than 450,000 ounces of gold annually from 2025 to 2030, both from the Oyut open pit and the Hugo North (Lift One) underground mining project. Turquoise Hill said open-pit mining is expected to enter Phase 4 this year, with plant capacity expected to be about 40 million tons. Meanwhile, the company expects underground development to advance 15-16 kilometers.

Rio Tinto: In 2018, copper production in mines increased by 33% to 633,500 tons compared with the same period last year.

Rio Tinto PLC, Australia, released its operating report for 2018 in mid-January, in which it reported that copper production in mines in 2018 was 633,500 tons, an increase of 33% over the previous year. It is estimated that the output of copper in mines will be between 550,000 and 600,000 tons in 2019, and that of refined copper will be between 220,000 and 250,000 tons in 2019. For its Kennecott Copper Mine, the company said last year’s copper production grew by 37% year-on-year, as mining continued to be active in a high-grade open-pit copper production area and production efficiency improved.

First Quantum has a record copper production and sales in 2018

The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Copper Miner First Quantum Corporation announced record copper production and sales in 2018. The total output of copper in 2018 was 605,853 tons, and 573,963 tons in 2017, an increase of 6% over the previous year. Copper sales in 2018 were 596,513 tons and 580,130 tons in 2017, an increase of 3% over the previous year.

The output of copper in Kansanshi mine in Zambia increased from 250,801 tons in 2017 to 251,552 tons in 2018; the output of Mauritania decreased slightly to 28,137 tons (28,791 tons in 2017); the output of Piayeli mine in Turkey increased by 19,896 tons (compared with 16,523 tons); the output of copper in Pyhsalmi mine in Finland decreased from 13,501 tons in 2017 to 11,904 tons, with sales falling from 13,691 tons. Tons fell to BHP Billiton’s copper production in 2018 is basically the same as last year’s target increase of copper production in 2019

BHP Billiton cancelled the sale of Cerro Colorado Copper Mine and increased its copper production target to between 1.645 million tons and 1.74 million tons. In the second half of 2018, the group output converted by copper production remained basically unchanged, and the annual output is expected to be the same as last year. It is expected that all major assets of the Group will meet the annual unit cost target, which is in line with the higher expected output in the second half of the year. However, due to the planned equipment maintenance and shutdown events, unit cost in the second half of 2018 exceeded the guidance target for the whole year.

In the second half of 2018, unplanned production disruptions at Olympic Dam, Spence Copper and WAIO resulted in some impacts on production during the half-year reporting period up to the end of December 2018, resulting in a negative impact of about $600 million.

China’s crude oil import has steadily increased with the continuous decline of domestic crude oil production and the continuous increase of refining capacity.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China’s crude oil imports increased by 10.1% to 462 million tons in 2018. Among them, Russian crude oil imports reached 71.49 million tons (or 1.43 million barrels per day), up 19.7% year on year, accounting for about 15.47% of the total domestic crude oil imports.

In December 2018, China imported 1.658 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil, 1.64 million barrels per day of Saudi crude oil, and 540,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude oil, with zero imports of American crude oil.

Russia has been China’s largest supplier of crude oil for three consecutive years. The production of Sino-Russian oil pipeline, shorter transportation distance and flexible transportation mode determine the advantages of Russian crude oil to China, and also lead to the continuous growth of Russian crude oil imports.

China’s largest source of crude oil imports has been Saudi Arabia for more than a decade.

In 2016, with an annual supply of 52.38 million tons, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s largest supplier of crude oil, and maintained steady growth. In 2017, China imported 59.8 million tons of Russian crude oil, an increase of 13.95% over 2016.

In 2011, the Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline with a total length of nearly 1,000 kilometers was put into operation, which opened the history of crude oil pipeline transportation between China and Russia. In January 2018, the second-line project of Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline was put into operation, with a designed capacity of 15 million tons per year. So far, Russia can transport 30 million tons of oil to China through pipeline every year.

The Sino-Russian crude oil pipeline is one of the four major energy strategic channels in China and the largest import channel of onshore crude oil in China. It undertakes the tasks of diversifying China’s oil and gas imports, improving people’s livelihood and ensuring energy security.

According to Harbin Customs data, in 2018, Heilongjiang ports imported 27.252 million tons of crude oil from Russia, an increase of 67.1% over the same period of last year, and the total import value reached 96.04 billion yuan, an increase of 1.2 times over the same period of last year.

Domestic crude oil production has declined for three consecutive years due to factors such as resource conditions, low international oil prices, poor economic benefits and inadequate upstream investment. Domestic crude oil production was 199 million tons in 2016, 191 million tons in 2017 and 190 million tons in 2018, respectively.

But the domestic crude oil processing volume is steadily increasing. The general export quota of refined oil issued by the Ministry of Commerce also boosts crude oil processing. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2018, the domestic crude oil processing volume exceeded 600 million tons, an increase of 6.8% year on year, and the growth rate was 1.8% faster than the previous year.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, international oil prices fell sharply, China imported and stored oil in large quantities, and China’s refineries also started full capacity production, which promoted the growth of domestic imports of crude oil.

According to the General Administration of Customs, China imported 43.782 million tons of crude oil in December 2018, a new monthly record high of 2.12% year-on-year growth after November. In November, China imported 42.872 million tons of crude oil, an increase of 16% over the same period last year.

In 2018, China’s dependence on foreign oil approached 70%, reaching 69.8%.

China surpassed Japan to become the world’s largest importer of natural gas in 2018, and will continue this trend, according to the “Development Report of Oil and Gas Industry at Home and Abroad 2018″ issued by the Institute of Economic and Technological Research of PetroChina Group.

The report also points out that there is no causal relationship between oil dependence and energy supply security. Oil supply security is also affected by factors such as the stability of import sources, channel security and reserve level. As long as we increase domestic oil and gas exploration and development, ensure the diversification of import sources and channels, improve reserve capacity and guarantee channel safety, high external dependence will not necessarily lead to supply crisis.