Figure 8 China and EU production of base metals 47 time series metric tonnes I Source BGS China s domination of the nonferrous metals industry has not ensued as a natural corollary of national development rather because of a conscious missionoriented industrial devel opment policy the sector has long been identifed as strategic importance to the Chinese economy and its further development 48 49 The Chinese nonferrous metals sector is also characterized by a number of stateowned enterprises who are primed to become national champions These have for many years been the k ey benefciaries of government subsidy disbursements 65 enterprises have received a total of 4000 individual subsidy transactions since 2011 50 This will be discussed further in Chapter 7 3 Chinese dominance is critical especially as concerns rare earth metals 36 7 of the world s known rare earths reserves are found in China and the country produces 70 6 of the total global rare earth production W ere China to restrict the e xport of rare earth metals it would severely handicap western economies For e xample China currently applies e xport tax es and quotas for antimony EU imports of unwrought antimony from China decreased from 23000 tonnes in 2010 to 17 000 tonnes in 2014 lik ely due to restriction of Chinese supply in 2010 and 2011 due to mine closures and e xport quotas Such restrictions also impact large scale investment projects which due to long business cycles cannot react rapidly enough to short term changes or mark et manipulations by established suppliers 47 Primary Aluminium Cobalt R efned Copper R efned Copper Smelter Ferroalloys L ead R efned Nick el SmelterR efned Tin Smelter Zinc R efned 48 T aube 2017 49 The nonferrous sector is a k ey element of a number of government planning initiatives such as the S trategic Emerging Industry Initiative launched in 2009 the Made in China 2025 Plan launched in 2015 as well as a broad range of other high level programmes policies and tools provide detailed directions for all aspects of nonferrous metal sector development 50 T aube 2017 The same trend can be observed in the terms of base metal ores T otal imports of nonfer rous metal ores saw a dip after the crisis from 17 9 Mt in 2000 to 162 Mt in 2009 but have since increased to 216 Mt in 2017 T otal e xports remained stable following the crisis and have also resumed precrisis levels 15 Mt in 2000 and 2009 to 19 Mt in 2017 Exports however declined signifcantly for bauxite while imports of copper and nick el ores have still not resumed precrisis levels In the case of lead the importe xport gap is not as e xtreme as with other metals and ores due to a high percentage of secondary production 65 EU27 recycling rate between 90100 for 21 EU member states in 2016 37 There is also an important trade of waste and scrap primarily as concerns copper and aluminium discussed in section 34 on circularity Overall the EU e xports 2065 Mt waste and scrap against 0 913 Mt imports of the same BO X 2 China s mark et domination China is the world s top overall producer of nonferrous metals and also the largest consumer of nonferrous metals Between 20082016 China s share of global base metals production has skyrock eted from 34 to 54 in the case of aluminium 38 from 20 to 35 in the case of copper 39 from 37 to 42 in the case of lead 40 from 15 to 30 in the case of nick el from 33 to 46 in the case of zinc As concerns cobalt the fgure rose from 25 to 48 68 in 2018 if refned production is considered 41 and from only 4Mt in 2000 to 329Mt in 2017 in ferroalloys production 42 China accounts for about 80 of global magne sium mining and processing 14 million tons primary production capacity of 165 million tons globally 43 and 40 of international refned lead production and consumption the share of secondary lead in China s domestic mark et supply stood at 33 in 2015 projected to reach 45 in 2020 44 In 2016 Chinese companies produced an estimated 71000 tons of tungsten by metal content or about 80 percent of global output even though the country is home to only half of global tungsten deposits 45 China s production of nonferrous metals frst peak ed in 2002 when the country s economy e xperienced a growth spurt It continued its trajectory after a small dip in 2008 given the global fnancial crisis had a signifcantly less severe impact on Asia Figure 8 In A ugust 2018 China s production of 10 major nonferrous metals copper aluminum lead zinc nick el tin antimony mercury magnesium and titanium e xpanded 5 7 yearonyear 46 37 European Commission 2019a 38China s share in global aluminium production was around 10 at the time of China s accession to the WT O In 2001 W orld Aluminium S tatistics 39 China is home to seven of the 20 largest copper smelters in the world and nine of the world s 20 largest copper refneries 40 Timeframe 2008 to 2018 Source USGS 2008 IZLSG 41 T aube 2017 pp 130133 42 AEGIS Europe 2019 43 International Magnesium Association 2017 T aube 2017 pp 130133 44 ILZSG USGS 2017 T aube 2017 pp 124129 45 Quanxun 2017 Xiuxia 2017 T aube 2017 pp 145151 46 China Daily 2018 0 500 000 000 400 000 000 300 000 000 200 000 000 100 000 000 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 China T otal EU T otal MET ALS IN A CLIMA TE NEUTRAL EUROPE A 2050 BL UEPRINT 26