The 9th All-Russian Conference "Copper, Brass, Bronze: Trends in Production and Consumption" has started in Yekaterinburg, in which the heads and specialists of enterprises producing products from copper and alloys, metal trading companies and research groups took part - this is about 50 industry experts from different cities of the country and neighboring countries. The conference participants discussed the situation on the market of copper and copper-containing products in Russia and the world, trends in the production and consumption of copper, brass and bronze rolled products, possible scenarios for the development of the market for copper products in the domestic and foreign markets.
Assessing the current situation, overwhelming the majority of participants noted a negative trend in both production and sales in 2020 compared to the previous period. The decrease was up to 30% for different rental groups. Experts do not expect a recovery in consumption in the domestic market in the near future.
At the same time, UMMC-OTSM sets itself the task of maintaining its leading position in the domestic market in 2021 (38% in 2019) due to import substitution in flat products and an increase in the production of copper pipes for air conditioning, heating and refrigeration equipment, as well as by expanding the geography of supplies.
“For the development of production, it is necessary to master foreign markets, and we are talking about foreign countries,” comments Sales Director Tatiana Kuchina. “We have transformed the sales service and identified a direction that will work with an agent network in target countries and promote certain product groups to the market.” It should be added that UMMC-OTSM enterprises are constantly developing new types of products. For example, the Revda OCM plant has mastered the production of pipes made of copper-iron alloy CW107C (they can withstand operating pressures up to 130 bar), and the Kirov OCM plant, in cooperation with another manufacturer, has developed products of a higher conversion rate (copper foil with an adhesive base). The expansion of the nomenclature will allow to maintain production volumes in the conditions of the falling non-ferrous steel market.
The 9th conference is notable for the fact that even in the conditions of constraining factors, all major Russian non-ferrous steel producers, without exception, took part in it in person and online. large metal traders and market experts, which underlines the importance of the event for the industry as a whole.
