Back | Latest news overview
A Market Focus at IMOA’s AGM
03/10/2024
IMOA was pleased to welcome 160 delegates from 52 member companies to our 36th AGM in Tokyo in September. During the event the Association ratified and welcomed the following five new members:
- Compañía Minera Antamina S.A., with mining operations in Peru.
- London Chemicals & Resources Ltd, an industrial chemical and recycling company in the UK.
- Metrex B.V., a waste treatment and recycling company in the Netherlands.
- Mingzuan Metal Limited, trading non-ferrous, ferrous, and rare earth metals in Hong Kong, China.
- Thompson Creek Metals Company, with conversion facilities in the US, which includes roasting and FeMo conversion.
Following the successful event, Secretary-General Eva Model said:
“Our lineup of expert speakers focused mainly on market-related topics this year. Markus Moll of SMR provided a summary picture including a new record of 870 million lbs of molybdenum consumed in 2023 and in terms of end-use consumption, the strongest growth was in the aerospace, defense and, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, automotive sectors.
“Jim Lennon of Red Door Research, another of our regular AGM speakers, offered an insightful view of molybdenum supply and demand, highlighting that increased demand has not been met with increased supply in recent years.
“We heard from Mike Lei of CM Group who gave a comprehensive view of the Chinese molybdenum market including that, overall, China’s primary molybdenum industry is becoming a more regulated and organized industry, with over 70% of China’s molybdenum mines being designated as ‘green’ and complying with ESG policies.
“Our Asian market focus continued with Tomohiro Yagishita of Kohsei Co., providing an interesting look into the Japanese molybdenum market including supply, demand, domestic production and imports. He also explained the end-use applications in Japan, including a focus on advanced, high-value and quality steel such as HSS type SKH59 (containing 9-10% molybdenum) for cutting steels.
“Our other AGM presentations offered a view of the end-use applications for molybdenum. Chin-Ling Huang of Taipei Water Authority reported on the 20-year leakage control program of stainless steel water service lines rolled out in the city. Since 2006, 66% of service lines in Taipei have been replaced with molybdenum-containing stainless steel service pipes.
“Long-standing IMOA consultant Hardy Mohrbacher, presented a new use of molybdenum in the Bauer Reverse flow processor for water purification, developed by IMOA member Bauer. Hardy discussed the science behind this technology, which can be used to remove pollutants from wastewater and biofilms from tube surfaces.
“Furthermore, we received insights from Toru Okabe, Tokyo University, who presented his work in developing new recycling processes for rare metals and the important role that recycling plays in the security of the rare metal supply chain.
“Patrick Schols, from IMOA member Euro-Rijn Global Logistics, offered a unique insight into the impact of global events on logistics services. He outlined how, in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, every incident, from geopolitical tensions to natural disasters, has a direct impact on the cost and delivery of logistics services.
“Our speaker program was rounded off with presentations from IMOA’s Technical Director, Nicole Kinsman and IMOA’s HSE Executive lead Sandra Carey on their work achieved on behalf of members. Nicole gave an in-depth view of our work in China over the last 20 years, contributing to the ten-fold increase in the use of molybdenum-containing stainless steel, with a specific example of stainless steel façades rising from 3% to 50% of the market.
“Sandra gave members a comprehensive round-up of the work IMOA does in HSE. This included the important chemicals management regulatory work, including a preview of the carbon footprint data resulting from the Life Cycle Assessment Inventory Updating Project for molybdenum for metallurgical applications. We look forward to publishing this study later in the year.”
The busy AGM week concluded with almost 100 members joining a tour of Nippon Steel’s East Nippon Works in the Kimitsu Area. The tour enabled members to see firsthand the first-use consumption of molybdenum in steel production. Members were able to visit blast furnace number 4 and watch continuous casting steel slabs being laser cut.
Eva Model concluded:
“It was great to see so many of our members making the most of the networking opportunities at the largest annual gathering of the molybdenum industry. It was a pleasure to see our membership ratify five new members at this AGM event. I am excited for the coming year and I look forward to continuing to grow our global community.”
General information for media
IMOA is a non profit trade association, representing the majority of the molybdenum industry worldwide. It works to raise awareness about the unique properties of molybdenum, its beneficial effects on materials performance, its safety in use and its contribution to sustainable development.
Molybdenum is added to alloy steels to improve strength, toughness, hardenability and weldability for numerous applications in the automotive, shipbuilding, construction, mining, chemical, oil & gas and energy generation industries. In stainless steels and superalloys, it improves corrosion resistance and high-temperature performance and finds uses in many industrial applications. It is also used in a variety of products from catalysts and lubricants to pigments and paint.
IMOA has a strict antitrust compliance policy which delegates of all meetings are required to observe. All such meetings are observed by legal counsel.
For more information please email the communications team at media@imoa.info.
For up-to-date information please follow IMOA on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Back | Latest news overview
