The nonferrous metals industry has achieved remarkable accomplishments.

　　Over the past 70 years, China’s nonferrous metals industry has advanced with determination and resilience, establishing a comprehensive industrial system characterized by complete product categories, a well‑integrated structure, substantial production capacity, and an optimized industrial mix. Emerging from a state of backwardness, it has grown into the world’s leading nation in the production, consumption, and trade of nonferrous metals, making significant contributions to China’s economic and social development as well as to the global advancement of the nonferrous metals sector.

　　 Technological innovation is driving the comprehensive upgrading of the nonferrous metals industry.

　　Since the launch of reform and opening-up, nonferrous‑metal enterprises have achieved independent innovation by tackling key technological challenges through industry–university–research collaboration, building on the introduction, assimilation, and adaptation of foreign technologies. They have successfully developed a suite of core, cross‑cutting technologies and put them into production, thereby accelerating industrial upgrading. Since the beginning of the new century, these enterprises have intensified basic research and attained major breakthroughs in both original and collaborative innovation, with electrolytic aluminum technology standing out as particularly noteworthy. In recent years, they have pioneered the world’s first 600‑kA ultra‑large‑scale aluminum electrolysis process, which is internationally leading. Their independently developed 300‑kA large‑scale aluminum electrolysis technology has long been exported overseas. Moreover, their proprietary technologies for suspension copper smelting, oxygen bottom blowing, double‑bottom blowing, and “two‑step” copper smelting have reached world‑class standards. High‑end aluminum, magnesium, and titanium alloy products manufactured in‑house are now widely used in aerospace, automotive, high‑speed rail, and other sectors. Furthermore, ultra‑coarse, ultra‑fine, and ultra‑pure homogeneous cemented carbides, nuclear‑grade zirconium and hafnium materials, and other rare‑metal processing products have made significant strides in substituting for imports.

　　 During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the nonferrous metals industry continues to face a challenging environment.

　　As China’s economy transitions from a phase of rapid growth to one of high-quality development, domestic demand for bulk raw materials such as nonferrous metals has shifted from a period of sustained expansion to a “moderate‑growth” plateau. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the growth rate of domestic consumption of major nonferrous metals like copper and aluminum declined markedly, signaling the end of the era of rapid demand expansion. Further deceleration is expected going forward. With the slowdown in consumption growth, China’s demand for key nonferrous metals is likely to enter a plateau during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, eventually reaching a peak. Given that there are no significant untapped large bauxite deposits remaining domestically, and with existing mining resources gradually being depleted, China’s reliance on imported bauxite is projected to continue rising. At the same time, international market competition is intensifying, which will severely constrain the room for expanding exports of Chinese nonferrous metal products.