The suspension of production of some automobile plants and component factories caused by the strong earthquakes and tsunami in Japan also directly affected the export of domestic aluminum alloy enterprises, mainly customers of complete vehicles and parts factories.

Yikai Liu, Metals Recycling (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiangsu Yiqiu"), the manager in charge of procurement, sales and logistics, told the "First Financial Daily" on March 22, that new orders have not grown recently, and individual orders have been made. Automobile manufacturers also require delays of delivery of about two weeks or so, the specific situation or to confirm after the stability of the nuclear power plant conditions.

Jiangsu Yiqiu mainly produces new environmentally friendly aluminum alloy ingots. The company's products are sold not only in China but also in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and Europe and the United States. Starting in November last year, it has ranked first in domestic exports for three consecutive months.

Among exporting countries, the Japanese market is currently the largest export market, 30-40% of its export products are exported to Japan, and is the primary supplier of Japan's major auto manufacturers.

Liu Kaimin said that due to the impact of earthquakes and nuclear radiation, Toyota, Honda and Nissan stopped production at the time. According to the information we have learned, the parts of Japan’s three major automobile factories that have not been directly damaged by the earthquake have already begun to return to work but are restricted. With the impact of raw materials and transportation, the current operating rate is still relatively low, about 60%. The recovery in the eastern region was not optimistic. It was mainly due to radiation and the restoration of electricity to Deng. The recovery was expected to range from 30% to 50%.

Liu Kaimin also pointed out that for vehicle manufacturers, whether or not future production capacity can be fully restored depends mainly on the supply situation of parts and components manufacturers, because the eastern earthquake zone concentrated many Japanese high-end parts and components manufacturers to stop production. “According to our understanding, some Japanese automakers are also considering that if spare parts are in short supply, orders will be sent overseas. Therefore, I do not expect the situation to be clear until the end of this month or the next month.

According to customs statistics, in 2010 China exported a total of 560,800 tons of aluminum alloy ingots, of which exports accounted for about 54% of total exports, which accounted for the largest proportion.

The latest research report of Shanghai Nonferrous Metals (SMM) also pointed out that due to the suspension of production by downstream customers and the closure of some ports in Japan, the export of aluminum alloy ingots from Japanese reclaimed aluminum enterprises all declined, because downstream component companies all have a certain stock of aluminum alloy ingots. Therefore, it is expected that the downstream enterprises will not concentrate on procurement after the later production. At present, some manufacturers can only sell aluminum alloy ingots originally intended for export to Japan or other countries. If Japanese downstream companies cannot recover quickly, the price of aluminum alloy ingots in the future will face significant pressure.

The report also revealed that Japan not only imported aluminum alloy ingots from China, but also imported some aluminum alloy ingots from countries such as Russia and Ukraine. After the earthquake in Japan, aluminum alloy ingots exported from Japan, Russia, Ukraine, and other countries were exported to Japan. Affected by certain influences, only the backlog of goods that cannot be exported to Japan will be placed on the European market.

While exports to the largest export markets were temporarily impeded, Jiangsu Yiqiu also had its own countermeasures. The additional output, which is now blocked by exports, was sold to the domestic market. At present, domestic auto makers have not yet been greatly affected, orders are still relatively normal.

“Before the financial crisis in 2008, 80% of our products were exported, and only 20% were sold domestically. At that time, we realized the fragility of foreign markets and the huge demand from China. So in 2009, we began to do a sales strategy transformation. The domestic market has continued to develop for two years, so although export prices are slightly higher than domestic prices, we have already maintained 50% of exports and 50% of domestic sales.” Liu Kaixi told this reporter, in addition, the company is still paying attention to doing multiple For customers and industrial development, 57% of products are currently supplied to automobile companies, 20% of products are supplied to electronics companies, and 20% of products are sold to home appliance companies.

According to the reporter’s understanding, the demand price of the aluminum alloy market is relatively weak, and the price has fallen by about RMB 150 per ton compared with that before the earthquake, but for manufacturers, the processing costs due to manpower, oil prices, etc. are rising, while scrap aluminum, etc. Raw material prices are also rising, so the selling price of aluminum alloys is still relatively strong.