China Aluminum announced Monday that Sapa Group of Sweden, one of the world's three largest aluminium manufacturing companies and one of the world's largest aluminium profile manufacturers, has set up a 50% joint venture company to jointly set up an aluminium profile factory to develop the domestic high-speed rail market.
This news is only a small investment for ordinary investors, but it is a bomb for the aluminum profile industry, especially the industrial aluminum profile industry. This means that Sapa, which has long been the enemy of Chinese enterprises in the international market, is now the largest aluminum producer in China and has opened the door to the Chinese market. And Chinalco's move is tantamount to bringing wolves into the room.
Who is Sapa? It seems that even the domestic aluminum profile companies can not accurately describe their strong competitors. However, Document Jun, vice-president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association [0.24-0.41%], is not unfamiliar with it at all. The low-profile Swedish company is behind the trade lawsuit that China Aluminum faced in the United States.
"As soon as our lawsuit in the United States started, Sapa's men came." Documentary Army recalls that although Sapa has argued several times that the dual-countersuit lawsuits faced by China's aluminium profiles in the United States have nothing to do with them, many responding companies said that it was the pressure from Sapa that led the United States Steel Trade Union and the Fair Trade Commission on Aluminum profiles to jointly file applications with the U.S. Department of Commerce. At that time, Sapa's market share in the United States was being eroded by Chinese companies such as Zhongwang [5.390.37%] and Nanshan Aluminum [8.705.07%]. For this reason, Sapa sacrificed double sharp weapons.
Sapa's abacus, however, did not stop there. According to the Documentary Army, the reason why Sapa rushed to the association to communicate as soon as the double counterfeit case came out is that he actually hoped to open a door from the association, so as to expand his power in the Chinese market. According to Documentary Army, the implicit meaning of Sapa's communication is: open up the Chinese market to me, or make trouble for you in the American market.
According to public information, Sapa has two companies in China: Sapa Aluminum Thermal Transmission (Shanghai) Company and Sapa Aluminum Profile (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Although they have advanced technology, the size of the two companies in the Chinese market has not been done, which is also one of the key factors for Sapa to join Chinalco this time.
"Should our market doors be unreservedly open for such an enterprise which is so difficult for Chinese enterprises in overseas markets? Should our company also consider when choosing partners? " Lu Changqing, executive director and vice president of China Zhongwang Holding Co., Ltd., on the one hand, has a lot of misnomers about Sapa's practice; on the other hand, he is more worried that the Chinese market's tolerance of outsiders will cause more double anti investigation consequences.
Documentary Army holds the same view. He has said that in many double-negative cases dealt with by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, almost 100% of the prosecutors have strong support from the same industry consortium, while almost all the big consortia are secretly promoting double-negative investigations, they are also trying to lobby the Chinese government or relevant associations to get a piece of the cake in the fast-growing China. "These enterprises are very clear in their calculations, and they are trying to trade the withdrawal of double counter-investigation in exchange for a foothold in the Chinese market. Sapa, it's just one of the representatives.