mainholm said...."You just don't get it do you? There is no...

mainholm said...."You just don't get it do you? There is no "blended" anode. There is not going to be any "blended" anode."

Who said there was a blended anode. What Adkins quite clearly said is ......

"If Chalieco is going to start using graphite in anodes, even in blend proportions, they are introducing their cousins in Chalco to a world of serious potential pain."

Clearly you don't seem to understand what he is saying.

"Or, did he just have an ulterior motive for dishing out aspersions on Chalieco and Syrah?"

Now why would he do that??? Anyone who has a different opinion on any subject concerning SYR somehow has an "ulterior" motive in your eyes.

You prefer to do your own research, I'm sure Adkins does also and he is in a much better place from which to make those assessments - China. Or are you suggesting that you know more about China and the aluminium industry than someone like Adkin? SYR directors went to China a while back,if I recall rightly. Do you think that they, in whatever small amount of time they spent there, are experts on the graphite industry in China? China is full of smoke and mirrors, I doubt anyone really understands all the ins and outs. As this recent article of Adkins points out.
Why foreign analysts don’t understand China

Posted on Oct 13, 2014Written by Paul Adkins
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This weekend I got an email from a very respected senior analyst from a competitor company.

He was writing to question my assertion that as much as one third of China’s semis exports are really not semis at all. They are remelted in an intermediary country, then sold as primary metal. By doing so, Chinese entrepreneurs not only avoid the 15% tariff on exports of raw aluminium, but they also pick up 13% of the 17% VAT.

In his email, my esteemed friend told me “I recently visited 6 rolling mills in China, and I found no evidence of what you claim.”

He has fallen for the mistake that so many foreign analysts and commentators make. He takes the lack of evidence available to him as evidence that my view is wrong.

I felt like screaming to him, “Well of course you didn’t find any evidence. Did you expect that they were going to show you? Did you think that you being a “lao wai” would entitle you to access information that is highly sensitive? You think they are going to admit bending the spirit of the law, if not the letter, to a complete stranger? Do you think that visiting less than 1/3 of the population of rolling mills in China would allow you to draw conclusions about the other 2/3rds?”

Don’t get me wrong – this guy is very good at what he does, and he has taught me a lot in the time I have known him. I have the greatest respect for him. And I am not picking on my friend; it’s just that I see this attitude too often from all sorts of otherwise credible experts.

It reminds me of a report put out by a very well known Australian bank a few years ago. The gist of it went, “we have spent 10 days in China, and everywhere we went, we heard the same message. So it must be true.” It is bordering on hubris to suggest that one can glean a clear picture of a complex structure so easily.

I relocated to Beijing in 2005, after dealing with Chinese companies since 1998, and have been involved in the aluminium industry in China since then. Yet I consider myself still an apprentice when it comes to understanding the industry. How a guy based in London or New York can make sense of it is difficult enough, but to base an assessment on the lack of evidence when he was never going to get the evidence in the first place, is a stretch too far.

By the way, I am not asserting that we have indisputable proof of exactly how much metal is in this category. We are working on that, but quietly, and not by sending a foreigner on a 2 week visit. There are much better ways.

http://az-china.com/blackchinablog/