Minerals_Aluminum Industry: Technology Height and Market Depth Open up the Rural Market

At the door of Xingfa Aluminum Co., Ltd., 23 Renhe Road, Nanzhuang Town, Chancheng District, Foshan City, a row of long trucks lined up every day waiting to ship.
“Although the financial crisis has caused some impact on our exports, domestic sales have not been affected. From the sales data currently available, the domestic sales in the first quarter increased by at least 20% year-on-year.” Huang Xingling, Minister of the Aluminum Business Department of Xingfa told the reporter frankly "The domestic sales of Xingfa still maintain a sustained growth trend. Of course, if there is no financial crisis, the increase may be even greater."
Sales in foreign markets are hindered, but there is no hole in the domestic market.
It is understood that from the end of last year to the first quarter of this year, under the unfavorable export situation, aluminum materials companies in Dali, Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, have accelerated their domestic market layout, with the 34 markets becoming key areas for investment.
At the same time, under the influence of the global financial crisis, the “centralized” development trend of the Guangdong aluminum industry has quietly accelerated. Under the premise that the growth of the industry is generally shrinking and slowing, the core advantages of the industry, such as technological innovation and sales growth, are accelerating toward the first-line aluminum. plant.
It is arguably the epitome of Guangdong aluminum industry.
Recently, Xingfa Aluminum is relocating its factory to a larger Sanshui production base, and it is expected that the production capacity will reach 150,000 tons next year. At the same time, this reporter learned from Hing Fat Aluminum that Hing Fat Aluminum has built a factory in Chengdu, Sichuan, and will complete the work next year with a capacity of up to 50,000 tons in the first phase.
"After the Spring Festival this year, there are 7330 tons of orders on hand, although it is 50 tons less than the same period of last year, but in the financial tsunami environment, it is better than expected, and most of them are annual orders. The company has received a total of nearly ten thousand recently. A few tons of large orders." Xinghua Aluminum executive director Wang Zhihua told reporters.
The confidence of Hing Fat’s contrarian expansion comes from its production and sales that “set the crisis without failing” under the test of the financial crisis.
“The first reason is that in response to the global financial crisis, the company took the lead in making adjustments in its marketing strategy, catered to the direction of the country’s economic strategy, and increased its efforts in the domestic market,” Huang said.
Faced with a weak export situation, Ding Dan, deputy head of the export division of Xingfa Aluminum Co., Ltd., responded by stabilizing the existing market as far as possible and at the same time moving to other foreign markets.
“Since the export ratio of Xingfa Aluminum is relatively small, it is generally not affected by the financial crisis. However, the original export markets such as Europe, Australia, and the United States are indeed relatively weak. To this end, Xingfa Aluminum has expanded the export market. Intensified efforts to move to West Africa and other market areas that have not taken the initiative to step in. From the current market feedback information, the new market area can basically make up for the losses caused by the weakness of the original market demand, so throughout the year, the expected amount of exports will not Decline, there may be a slight increase." Ding Dan said.
At the same time, Xingfa Aluminum has also seized the opportunity to seek transformation.
The “Aluminum Industry Technology Roadmap of Guangdong Province”, led by the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Department and led by first-line manufacturers such as Xingfa Aluminum, has achieved initial success in guiding corporate R&D and innovation activities.
Wu Xikun, Deputy General Manager of Xingfa Aluminum Technology, said that following the guidance of the road map, Xingfa Aluminum invested 12 million yuan in research and development of "isothermal extrusion technology and equipment" and became a major special project of the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Department. After the project is successful, it can Improve production efficiency by 50%, reduce production costs by 10%, and create economic benefits of over 3,000 yuan each year. At the same time, it also laid the technical foundation for China's aluminum products to enter the overseas market and establish the international first-class aluminum brand.
In the second-tier market, the export part accounts for about 30% of the total production capacity of Dali Aluminum. The shrinking overseas market has caused some aluminum companies to stop production.
Therefore, tapping the domestic market potential has become the best choice to ease the unfavorable export situation. Starting from the end of last year, Dalili first-tier aluminum companies accelerated their deployment in the domestic market. In addition to consolidating traditional “power spheres” such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Guangxi, since this year, new construction projects of Dali Aluminum Materials in Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, and Fujian have also started or started operations.
The common practice of Dali aluminum companies is to establish a vertical marketing network centered around the central city, relying on specialized markets at all levels to extend their reach from the cities to the countryside. Among them, Guangdong Weiye Aluminum Co., Ltd. Jiangsu Branch's second and third phases of the project are stepping up construction. When it is put into production, the company's production capacity in Jiangsu will exceed 100,000 tons, and the products will enhance the coverage of the two rivers and surrounding areas.
Huang Jieling said that the market cake gestated by China's vast rural market may be more than the first-tier cities. Compared with the fiercely competitive first-tier cities, the rural market appears to be rough and scattered, which will pose new challenges to the manufacturers' marketing strategies and means.
Industry insiders pointed out that the aluminum industry [16.10 6.91%] in the financial crisis has taken a favorable turn for the domestic market, and seizing the domestic secondary market will be the main battlefield for the next stop.
Liu Zhiming, deputy general manager of Fenglu Aluminum Company of Guangdong Province, introduced that since last March, Fenglu Aluminum has implemented a method to deal with the “National Export Tax Rebate Cancellation” policy—adjust the product structure in a timely manner and move the market to the tertiary and rural markets. Tilt for good results. In the last year, when the export ratio dropped sharply from nearly 40% at the peak to 12.8%, Fenglv’s total sales for the whole year still increased by 25%.
According to Wu Weishe, deputy general manager of Guangdong Huachang Aluminum Plant, as early as 2007, the company made a strategic move to attack the second- and third-tier cities, counties and towns.
Wu Wei Society explained that at that time, the company was aware of the “overheating” of the real estate market. In order to avoid impact on product sales due to the impact of first-tier cities' engineering projects, it decided to adjust the market ahead of time and put the focus of development on the second and third-tier cities in China.
Therefore, the sudden financial crisis of 2008 did not affect the production and sales of the plant. The country’s subsequent investment policy of boosting domestic demand by 4 trillion investment turned Huachang’s aluminum products into a counter-trend, and its sales in the secondary and tertiary markets and rural markets. The volume has soared. Last year, the total industrial output value of the plant increased by 24% year-on-year, and the industrial sales value increased by 18% year-on-year.
“In rural areas, the increase in self-owned houses is quite large, especially in the Mainland, because steel and cement are now cheaper,” said Liu Zhiming. (Source: 21st Century Business Herald)