Dong Mingzhu, Deputy to the Npc, Mentioned Tungsten in the two Sessions. What did She Say?

Dong Mingzhu, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Gree Electrical Appliances, submitted the Suggestions on Enhancing the Research and Development of Basic Materials at this year's NPC and NPC sessions, suggesting that the State increase the research and development of basic materials such as high-end wafers, high-end tungsten products, synthetic ester refrigerant oil and environmental refrigerants. Why does Dong Mingzhu mention high-end tungsten products in the proposal?

Dong Mingzhu said in his proposal: "Behind a country's strong competitiveness, industrial support is indispensable. Through the unremitting efforts of generations of Chinese people, the overall scale of China's industry has been expanding, and its strength has also been significantly improved, but the characteristics of large but not strong are still prominent. The reason is that the basic industry level is weak, and the more basic it is, the wider the gap with the leading level abroad. Some key basic materials, such as high-end wafers, high-end tungsten products, synthetic ester refrigerant oil, environmental refrigerants, etc., should not be self-produced, rely heavily on imports, break through patent barriers, and pay a lot of patent fees.

Tungsten is a high melting point rare metal or refractory rare metal in the field of metallurgy and metal materials. It is an important strategic reserve resource of the country. Tungsten is one of the most important functional materials in modern industry, national defense and high-tech applications. Tungsten is the most important raw material for manufacturing cemented carbides. Tungsten carbide is also known as "industrial teeth". Tungsten carbide cutters and other tungsten products are needed in air conditioning, automobile manufacturing, intelligent robot manufacturing and other industries engaged in by Dong Mingzhu.

As we all know, China's tungsten reserves amount to 1.9 million tons, accounting for more than 60% of the world's total. At the same time, China is also the world's leading producer of tungsten. In 2017, China's tungsten mineral output reached 93,000 tons of metal, which has absolute resource advantages in the world. However, we have to regret that, with the advantages of raw materials, China's tungsten products industry is large but not strong, and the overall situation of China's tungsten products trade is still in deficit.

Taking cemented carbide as an example, China's cemented carbide production accounts for 60% of the world's total. There are more than 160 cemented carbide factories in China. The output ranks first in the world, but the technology is second and third in the world. Most enterprises are still stuck in the field of low-end products, low-cost vicious competition, cannibalism. The field of high-end cemented carbide products is still occupied by large foreign enterprises such as Sweden, Germany, the United States, Israel and so on. They can sell knives of raw materials for tens of yuan to thousands of yuan. Swedish Sandvik's annual sales of cutting tools are about 30 billion US dollars, while China's annual exports of tungsten primary and intermediate products (excluding cemented carbide cutting tools) are only about 1 billion US dollars. Needless to say, the tool industry has had such a contrast that the net profit of China's cemented carbide tool industry as a whole is less than that of Sweden's Sandvik's research and development funds.

More and more people of insight realize that China's tungsten has not yet reflected its value. Therefore, Dong Mingzhu's suggestion on increasing the R&D of high-end tungsten products and other basic materials mentioned in the two sessions is also the voice of most people. "China's high-end tungsten products are still dependent on imports," she said. According to statistics, China exports tungsten raw materials and semi-finished products about US$1 billion annually, but only in the field of tungsten steel tools, China consumes nearly US$2 billion annually, exceeding the total amount of raw materials for tungsten products exported by China. If we add mining tools, building tools, electronic products and so on, our Tungsten product chain loses billions of dollars every year.

The transformation and upgrading of the industry as a whole also needs the upgrading of tungsten products industry. Therefore, Dong Mingzhu suggested that the state should set up special research institutes for the research and development of key basic materials, fully mobilize scientific research institutes, universities and industry experts to focus on tackling key problems throughout the country; encourage powerful and responsible national enterprises to carry out relevant research projects, and give corresponding policy and financial support; state-owned enterprises and financial investment projects should give priority to independent research and development in China. Relevant products produced independently should be cultivated for industrial development.

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