Trucking and depot businesses are returning to normal in
China following some patchy recovery in the middle of February
after the extension of the Chinese New Year. The national
holiday was extended due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic. At the
same time, overseas demand has been curbed due to the spread of
the virus globally.
Through the beginning of February, the coronavirus outbreak
in China severely disrupted logistics in the country, creating
a shortage of lorry drivers and rail freight cars.
The seaborne market showed initial improvement in port
cities – including Qingdao, one of the production hubs
for graphite – after February 10, whereas land
transport was limited in interior provinces due to border
closures and a lack of trucks and drivers.
China’s authorities implemented measures to try
to allow people to resume work while at the same time
preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Logistics started to
recover from late February, and with fewer Covid-19 cases in
China, most market participants are reporting more normal
transport conditions.
"Material shipment within China has improved a lot. The main
problem for us now is that there are very few export orders for
shipment," a trader of refractory-grade bauxite told
Fastmarkets. "We have no closed deals after the middle of
March. Now, many overseas clients have suspended operations,
and inquiries are rare."
A brown fused alumina producer in Henan said: "Highways have
been made toll-free at the moment, which constitutes a drop in
freight. And operations at ports [in China] are not
affected."
Meanwhile, a magnesia producer added: "Transportation within
Liaoning has run normally since late February, and domestic
transportation has no big problems. Transport fees have
returned to previous normal levels as well. The problem is
downstream buying remains slow, and global buyers slowed down
their purchasing pace due to the impact of the spread of the
virus."
Even in Wuhan, refractory operations have started to recover
since April 8 – the day the city’s
lockdown ended – albeit at a minimum level. Demand for
flake graphite raw materials is expected to be back to normal
by the end of April," a flake graphite trader in Shandong,
China, said.
However, with the coronavirus spreading around the world,
export orders for many refractory raw materials have been
delayed.
"We shipped some fused alumina to Japan and South Korea last
week. There seems to be a quarantine check when passing South
Korea, which would result in the delay of shipments by 10-15
days," a second fused alumina producer in Henan told
Fastmarkets.
"Fluorspar acidspar orders from overseas buyers have
reduced, and even inquires have become fewer." a fluorspar
exporter said. "Some overseas buyers worry whether the
materials can pass their customs clearance at the destination
port, so most of them haven’t placed any
orders."
And a magnesia trader added: "There are no problems in
delivering materials from China – the problem is some
buyers’ countries closing their doors to control
the coronavirus. My major magnesia customers are from India,
and they delayed purchasing due to the [lockdown there]. I have
no orders for the whole of April."
Others are saying that orders to countries such as Russia
and the United States have been delayed due to concerns
surrounding the unloading of material when the cargo
arrives.