At the first press conference of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held recently, keywords such as high-quality development, new-quality productive forces, and green and low-carbon transformation have provided guidance for the future development of China’s nonferrous metals industry. Faced with this historic opportunity, how will the industry break through bottlenecks?

Policy Guidance: Nonferrous Metals Industry Enters a New Development Stage

1. Green and Low-Carbon Transition: Building a New Track for Industrial Competitiveness

The press conference specifically mentioned that special research will be conducted on major issues including green and low-carbon transformation. It can be foreseen that against the backdrop of advancing the “dual carbon” goals, green smelting technologies, recycled metal utilization, and low-carbon material innovation will become new competitive arenas for the industry.

In recent years, China’s nonferrous metals industry has achieved remarkable results in green transformation, with energy consumption of major products reaching world-leading levels. In 2025, the comprehensive energy consumption of copper smelting stood at 191 kg of standard coal per ton, down 2.9% year on year; the comprehensive AC power consumption of primary aluminum was 13,202 kWh per ton, down 0.5% year on year, and about 800 kWh lower than the global average.

2. Empowered by Scientific and Technological Innovation: Moving Up the Value Chain to High-End Sectors

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, centering on self-reliance in science and technology and the development of new-quality productive forces, China’s nonferrous metals industry must base itself on the needs of key downstream industrial chains, focus on tackling key high-end new materials, enhance competitiveness in advantageous material sectors, and build an independent, controllable, safe and reliable new material industrial system. This transformation will help China leap from a “major materials country” to a “strong materials country”, providing key support for improving the overall efficiency of national scientific and technological innovation and leading high-quality industrial development.

Specifically, in response to the needs of key industrial chains such as next-generation information technology, new energy vehicles, aerospace, and deep-sea economy, new materials including metal soft magnetic powders for AI chips and optical modules, key materials for solid-state batteries (lithium sulfide, lithium metal), lightweight aluminum-magnesium alloys for humanoid robots, and titanium alloys for high-end equipment are expected to achieve major breakthroughs and large-scale application during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

3. Deepening Opening-Up: Expanding Space for International Cooperation

In recent years, China’s nonferrous metals industry has actively implemented a series of national policies, taken multiple measures to help enterprises explore international markets, and effectively responded to the impacts of risks and challenges such as China-US economic and trade frictions. In 2025, the total import and export volume of China’s nonferrous metals reached a new high of 412.24 billion US dollars, an increase of 12.4% year on year.

Against the backdrop of increasingly close global resource allocation and industrial chain cooperation, Chinese nonferrous metals enterprises will enjoy broader space in overseas resource development, international trade and technological cooperation. Meanwhile, with the continuous advancement of Belt and Road cooperation, China’s position in the global metal resource supply chain will be further elevated.

Seizing Industrial Opportunities Under Tight Supply-Demand Balance

Looking ahead, some institutions hold that on the demand side, the policy tone of the Government Work Report is steady and positive, with the orientation of a more proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy unchanged, and the economy will continue to present structural highlights. Domestic demand, intelligent economy, future industries, emerging industries and the “dual carbon” goals are major policy priorities, which will boost demand for metal materials in related fields.

On the supply side, on the one hand, long mine development cycles, declining resource grades, and environmental and policy constraints have led to slow growth in global metal supply. On the other hand, geopolitical events will affect supply stability and energy costs. For example, the Middle East accounts for about 9% of global primary aluminum production capacity; geopolitical risks will slow down supply growth and widen the supply-demand gap in 2026. Strategic small metals such as rare earths, tungsten and antimony will also face tight supply due to restricted production and rising strategic reserve demand. Overall, most market institutions expect that the supply-demand relationship in the nonferrous metals industry will remain tight in the future.

In addition, driven by multiple factors including changes in the global macro environment, rapid development of the new energy industry and resource supply constraints, the overall operation of the nonferrous metals industry has improved significantly. Data show that in 2025, the total profit of nonferrous enterprises above designated size reached 528.45 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.6%, marking a notable rebound in industry prosperity. Insiders pointed out that leading enterprises have now formed comprehensive competitive advantages in resource reserves, global layout and industrial chain integration.

[Data source: Compilation of public information]