Qiu Jinguo: The market and policy factors will lead vanadium industry to achieve equilibrium between supply and demand

Asian Metal: Hello, Mr. Qiu. Thank you very much for accepting our interview. Could you please introduce your company first?

Qiu: Our factory, founded in 2001, is one of the companies that entered into the high-purity area much earlier than others. In the more than 10 years of continuous technical research and development in the field of material science, our factory has been the biggest high-purity vanadium production company in China and even in the world. Our products included three main classes: vanadium oxide, vanadium compound and vanadium liquor. Our vanadium chemical products have been widely used in aerospace industry as an additive to titanium alloys, chemical industry as catalyst, pigment industry, glass industry and battery industry, etc.

Our company is able to assure high quality standards or requirements both domestically and internationally, and has gained high reputation for its quality products, solutions and services.

Asian Metal: We know that the vanadium market experienced high volatility with regard to prices and demand. Now, could you give us a brief summary about the high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market in 2012?

Qiu: The high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market was relatively sluggish, influenced by the whole vanadium market. The demand from the market reduced slightly. However, compared with the demand, the price experienced a bigger shock. The whole vanadium market in 2012 was stagnant and what is a pity is that the future market may be grimmer.

Asian Metal: What is your viewpoint about the high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder outlook and what are the new challenges?

Qiu: The whole economic scenario in 2013 is very unclear at best and the trend paints a less optimistic outcome. In terms of vanadium industry, although increasing the vanadium consumption in rebar is good for the demand, the whole steel iron industry is still around the low ebb, thus the increase consumption is relatively limited. And corresponding to the demand, the potential supply for vanadium is very large: there are the vanadium production companies that use vanadium-titanium magnet ores such as PanSteel, ChengSteel and Chuanwei, and the numerous of companies using the stone coal for production in the mainland; there are also Australian and Brazilian companies starting to put their vanadium ores into production. If there are not big fluctuations, the imbalance between supply and demand will continue, which will press down the vanadium price to some extent.

In terms of the high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market, there are two main points:

First, the capacity of the market is small. High-purity vanadium pentoxide powder accounts for less than 4% in the whole vanadium application and in the foreseeable future, this situation will not change much. To speak of, there are a lot of companies focusing on the Vanadium Redox Battery which is one of the new types of energy storage battery. Only when the technology and the market are both feasible, it can be used widely. But it will take us a lot of time to test it, thus the Vanadium Redox Battery will not drive the vanadium consumption much.

Second, the market is dispersive. The demand volume from part of application fields and consumers ranges from hundreds of kilogram to several tons, and their requirements for quality are very different. These bring much challenge for high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder producers. Thus, from this point, high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market is more like refining the chemicals which needs spending a lot of attentions on both technology and service.

There are a lot companies trying to set foot in the high-purity fields. It is good for this industry to improve and develop. However, it is worth noting that developing the high-purity vanadium powder need both clear business position and higher technology exploring capacity. The point that believing the high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market is easy to develop is very unrealistic. Entering into the narrower high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market too quickly can only make the market more chaotic and bring cut-throat competition. In the short run, the bad money driving out good money is relatively common in many fields in China, but in the long run, a company can develop long-term and sustainably will depend on the technology development capacity and the comprehensive competitive capacity.

Asian Metal: The vanadium products prices have decreased for more than two months. What are your points about this price dropping and what is the plan for the future development of your company.

Qiu: It is so pity that the vanadium market is still in low level, which is relate to the sluggish downstream market and the higher production capacity. To be precise, the vanadium industry is not in a healthy state. The excess production capacity, wasting of resources and poor environmental protection level phenomenon is very extrude. The current vanadium price even could not cover part of production cost. At the same time, our government should carry out policy to strengthen the laws on resources exploitation and environmental protection, especially for the factories that are using the stone coal to refine the vanadium. I believe that there should be some policies restrict entry to small companies whilst inefficient ones currently operating are forced to close and shutdown operations. Thus, in the long run, the market and policy factors will lead the vanadium industry to be in equilibrium between supply and demand. A healthy ordered vanadium industry is good for its long-term development.

Our company will continue concentrating on the research and development of high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder, facing the vanadium alteration rationality, and using the high quality materials to satisfy the demand from both domestic and overseas.

Asian Metal: The European and American vanadium markets have not turned much better, which is also influenced by the Chinese vanadium price. What is your viewpoint about the European and American high-purity vanadium pentoxide powder market?

Qiu: The European and American vanadium pentoxide powder markets are relatively mature and stable, and these markets will not experience large fluctuations without experiencing exogenous shocks and will only change following the economic fluctuations. However， once there are exogenous shocks to demand or supply appearing, the markets equilibrium breaks up easily and leads to the oversupply or short supply. In 2013, vanadium mine in Australia and other places will start to supply and Chinese suppliers may increase their export volume, thus the European and American markets may be not experience high prices.

Asian Metal: Thank you for accepting this interview, and do you have any questions to complement?

Qiu: Thank Asian Metal for providing the very timely and professional information service. It is very helpful for companies. More grease to your elbows!