On the afternoon of June 29th, the "2023 China Precious Metals Industry Work Conference," hosted by the Precious Metals Working Committee of the China Resource Recycling Association, was held in Beijing, offering suggestions for the green and sustainable development of the precious metals industry.

Secretary-General Bian Jiang mentioned in his keynote report on "The Current Situation of China's Platinum Group Metals Industry" that, In the first half of 2023, driven by the rapid growth of new energy vehicles, China's demand for platinum group metals slowed down; due to falling metal prices, the recovery of waste automobile exhaust catalysts slowed down; recycling in refining, fine chemicals, and fiberglass categories remained normal, relatively flat compared with the same period, with a slight decline.

Bian Jiang stated that, 2023 will be an extremely difficult year for the precious metals industry. While strengthening its own standardized development, the precious metals industry needs to further enhance Brand building to improve industry reputation, further strengthen technological innovation to improve quality, further extend the industrial chain to strive for product diversification, and further strengthen industrial integration and upstream and downstream collaboration to jointly promote the sustainable development of China's precious metals industry.

Bian Jiang pointed out that in the face of increasing competition, Price fluctuations, profit margins, overcapacity, and other pressures and challenges, the industry urgently needs to find new development paths. Southeast Asia, as a global maritime transportation artery, has become one of the most active regions in global economic activity, with the implementation of proactive economic stimulus policies. With the gradual unfolding of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and especially after China announced the "ban on waste", more and more domestic enterprises have set up shop in the Southeast Asian market. Enterprises should fully utilize their rich channel management experience, mature industrial chain support, and absolute technological advantages to take the lead and explore new development paths for the industry.

Meanwhile, the committee will actively explore building a precious metals industry index system to guide standardized development. First, actively plan to build a precious metals industry business cycle index system to help enterprises better understand the industry's market development trends and competitive conditions, so as to formulate corresponding strategies and decisions; it can also provide references and basis for government policy decisions, industry development goals, and planning; second, actively plan to build a precious metals industry Price index system, exploring the establishment of a relatively fair Price index system that conforms to the market transactions of platinum group metals. Through Price equilibrium, expanding online transactions, centralized platform transactions, certified transactions, and information sharing, enhancing market transparency and fairness, forming synergy, preventing manipulation or deliberate suppression of prices, and preventing speculation driving up “premium”, improving China's precious metals industry's international market position, and maintaining a fair and orderly development environment.

Around the 2023 precious metals market prediction and analysis of platinum and palladium futures listing, the committee invited Jiang Jicheng, China Market Research Manager of Johnson Matthey (Shanghai) Catalysts Co., Ltd. 、 and Chen Xuanchen, Assistant Director of the Commodity Business Department of Guangzhou Futures Exchange, for detailed interpretations and sharing.

During this period, focusing on the difficulties in the management of waste three-way catalyst recycling, improvement of industry reputation, and green sustainable development, three common issues, a roundtable discussion was specially organized for representative enterprise leaders in the industry. The insightful views, incisive analysis, and practical experience of the participating guests have provided substantial ideas and practical references for improving industry reputation, enterprise risk control, and development planning.

The "2023 China Precious Metals Industry Work Conference" is very timely. The three thematic roundtable forums specially planned and organized for the conference are closely related to the theme, close to reality, and focus on the key issues of industrial development. With a professional perspective and unique insights, it will surely pass on experience and wisdom for the development of the precious metals industry, provide guidance, and lead the green and sustainable development of China's precious metals industry.

Highly focused on   Promoting the standardization of waste three-way catalyst recycling management

According to the "National Catalog of Hazardous Wastes", waste automobile exhaust purification catalysts and their affiliated protective shells belong to national hazardous wastes and should be safely used by qualified hazardous waste utilization and disposal units. However, in the actual recycling and collection process, there are inconsistencies in definition, difficulty in traceability, large Price fluctuations, difficulty in returning to formal disposal enterprises, counterfeit goods are prevalent, and the recycling rate is low.

Based on this, the "2023 China Precious Metals Industry Work Conference" specially invited Wei Honglian, chief engineer of the Solid Waste Management Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment; Huang Zhiyu, director of the Automotive Catalysis Division of Guirenyuan (Yimen) Co., Ltd.; Ren Ying, general manager of BASF Heraeus Precious Metals Resources Co., Ltd.; CHAN HONG KOON  FRANCIS, general manager of Shaoguan Purui Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd.; Yang Fan, deputy general manager of Dacheng County Hefeng Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd.; Li Wei, general manager of Xingtai Lotus New Materials Technology Co., Ltd.; and Zhang Yulin, general manager of Beijing Huaxin Kaiye Materials Recycling Co., Ltd., for a "roundtable dialogue", in-depth exchanges and discussions were conducted based on the problems and countermeasures encountered in the actual operation of enterprises.

Finally, the participating guests suggested that from the policy level, the definition of waste three-way catalysts as hazardous waste, specific components, and related process regulations should be further defined and clarified; the formulation and implementation of relevant standards and specifications should be accelerated; and the industry's tax policies should be further clarified and optimized. From the enterprise level, it is necessary to further strengthen its own hazardous waste management, refine the specific operational procedures and implementation rules for the transportation, transfer, storage, and disposal of waste three-way catalysts, and ensure that the "four flows" are integrated; It is necessary to further improve and perfect traditional wet and fire methods, develop new recycling technologies, further improve process technology levels, reduce costs, improve processing capacity, and improve recycling rates and comprehensive recycling levels; learn from advanced international experience, actively research and promote new trading models, control the source, and avoid legal risks as much as possible. It provided reasonable suggestions and feasible measures for the recycling and utilization of waste three-way catalysts.

Next, the Precious Metals Working Committee will actively promote the implementation of relevant standards and regulations for the recycling, storage, and disposal of waste three-way catalysts in conjunction with relevant professional institutions and industry enterprises; fully investigate, collate, and summarize the difficulties, focal points, and common problems; solicit and collect feasible solutions, plans, and methods, and form a special report to submit to the relevant competent authorities, striving to create a good external environment for the development of waste three-way catalyst recycling and utilization.

The "Three Big Oil Companies" Jointly Help to Break Through the Crisis of Industrial Reputation

   In the past two years, affected by market fluctuations, Price volatility, and enterprise competition, the phenomenon of involution in the precious metals industry has been serious, breaches of contract have occurred frequently, the rules of operation have been broken, and industrial reputation has been severely damaged, making it difficult for enterprises to operate.

At the 2023 China Precious Metals Industry Work Conference, Liu Jun, senior engineer of China Petroleum Materials Procurement Center; Xu Jinsong, senior expert of the Precious Metals Division of China Petrochemical Catalyst Co., Ltd.; Liu Xin, deputy general manager of CNOOC (Shanxi) Precious Metals Co., Ltd.; Dong Tingyi, deputy general manager of Beijing Cuibolin Nonferrous Metals Technology Happy Center Co., Ltd.; and Zhang Zhixiang, chairman of Xi'an Kaitong New Materials Co., Ltd., shared their practical operations and management in aspects such as standardized development, risk prevention and control, and upholding reputation and contracts, including supplier access management, cargo loading, invoice management, fund management, authorization management, tracking of imported metal information, and contract approval. They engaged in in-depth exchanges on improving industrial reputation and enterprise risk prevention and control. Professor Jin Xiangyun from Beijing Antaike Information Co., Ltd. presided over the exchange.

Participating guests unanimously agreed that precious metals industry enterprises should internalize and externalize the "integrity" character of precious metals, strengthening cultural awareness; they should take integrity as the foundation, use a developmental perspective to think about and plan enterprise development, and not only seek immediate petty gains; they should seek development through technological innovation, strengthen the innovation and research and development of new technologies and new products, as well as digital empowerment, to improve the recovery rate, product quality, and core competitiveness; they should cooperate for mutual benefit, support each other, and "compete" with mutual understanding. They hope that the competent authorities will further optimize and refine relevant industrial regulations and policies, and suggest that industry associations take the lead in conducting enterprise credit ratings, using multiple measures to improve circulation efficiency, enhance credit reputation, ensure supply chain security, and polish the "precious metals" gold sign.

Strengthening Support Leading the Research on Green and Sustainable Development of the Industry

Under the "dual carbon" goal, "green" has become a necessary research topic for enterprises to improve their Brand image and enhance their strategic development capabilities, and it is also the only way for enterprises to achieve healthy and sustainable development. The precious metals industry certainly cannot stay outside the wave of green development. How enterprises can fully tap the potential of green development, promote the green transformation and upgrading of the industry, cultivate and expand the precious metals industry, and continuously expand new areas of green development has also become one of the focal issues of concern to enterprises.

During the 2023 China Precious Metals Industry Work Conference, Li Kun, Chairman of Yongxing Guiyan Resources Co., Ltd.; Zhang Yan, Deputy General Manager of Jinchuan Group Copper Co., Ltd.; Hu Min, General Manager of Heraeus Metal (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.; Qian Ting, Managing Director of Catalyst Technology and Precious Metals Services, China Region, Johnson Matthey (Shanghai) Catalyst Co., Ltd.; and Jiang Zhong, Chairman of Shenzhen Jinzhenglong Technology Co., Ltd., from the dimensions of technological innovation, quality improvement and efficiency enhancement, chain extension, product diversification, internal control management, external collaboration, raw material guarantee, market expansion, and overseas development, gave insightful interpretations and analyses of their respective enterprises’ "14th Five-Year Plan" period green and sustainable development planning, thinking, and suggestions.

Bianjiang also gave a detailed introduction to the preliminary plans made by the committee last year regarding the overseas development of the industry to the representatives attending the meeting, providing practical reference and theoretical reference for the participants. The next step will be to jointly formulate plans and implementation routes for the overseas development of the precious metals industry with relevant enterprises, promote the docking and applicability of relevant industry standards and regulations, cooperate with the overseas development of enterprises, and safeguard overseas development rights and interests.

Bianjiang mentioned that in the second half of the year, the Precious Metals Committee will focus on strengthening the construction of the integrity system to maintain the industry image, strengthening the construction of the recycling system to ensure raw material security, strengthening the construction of the technological innovation system to enhance the Brand image, strengthening the construction of the chain ecological system to improve core competitiveness, strengthening the construction of the standard system to promote standardized development, and strengthening the construction of the basic system to improve the comprehensive service capacity of the industry, working together with various related units in the industry chain to jointly promote the green and sustainable development of the precious metals industry.