For Chen Xuehua, chairman of Huayou Cobalt Industry, Tongxiang Zhenshi Hotel on Nov. 10 may be a more exciting time than ringing the bell in A-share listing.

Why is Chen Xuehua so excited? On this day, Huayou Cobalt Industry 2016 International Annual Conference opened. More than 500 Chinese and foreign guests from more than 20 countries and regions around the world gathered together to discuss major plans and seek common development.

At this grand meeting, Chen Xuehua reviewed Huayou Cobalt Industry's work in 2016 and looked forward to the company's 13th Five-Year Development Plan. President Chen Hongliang made a report on "Cobalt Supply Chain Duty Management", and carried out many business negotiations and technical exchanges, which deepened the mutual trust between the participants, enhanced communication and cooperation, and realized complementary advantages.

At this grand meeting, Chen Xuehua, who has always been optimistic, once again showed his self-confident smile. He said at the meeting that as a listed company, Huayou Cobalt Industry entered 2016 with a loss of 250 million yuan, and the management level of the company was facing tremendous pressure. However, with the improvement of the company's fundamentals, net profit reached 42.46 million yuan in the third quarter of 2016. "By 2020, our target is to reach 20 billion yuan in sales." Chen Xuehua is full of confidence.

Focus on cobalt industry

Cobalt is a kind of small metal, from glaze and catalyst of ceramic products to lithium batteries of mobile phone batteries, laptop computers, to aerospace industry, weapons industry and other fields. In particular, the global lithium-ion battery industry is developing rapidly. Huayou Cobalt Industry seizes the opportunity to enter the field of cobalt industry in the early stage of market formation and quickly occupies the market commanding point.

But since its inception, Huayou Cobalt Industry has faced a grim reality: the average content of cobalt in the crust is only 0.001%, which is mostly associated with sulfides such as copper and nickel. China is a "cobalt-poor country". 90% of cobalt resources rely on imports. Without resolving the problem of resources, Huayou's development has been strangled by its fate. So Chen Xuehua took aim at the African continent.

Since 2006, Huayou Cobalt Industry has implemented the "going out" strategy, opening up the process of investing in Africa. After ten years of perseverance and hard work, Huayou Cobalt Industry has gained a firm foothold in Africa. It has laid out a raw material procurement network in Congo (Kinshasa), the country with the richest cobalt resources. Up to now, it has formed a mining industry chain of mining, selecting and smelting and a layout of mining ladder development, which ensures the company has reliable resources. In 2012, Huayou Cobalt Industry located in Quzhou and established Quzhou Cobalt New Material Manufacturing Base, which greatly enhanced the manufacturing capacity of cobalt high-end products of Huayou Cobalt Industry.

From Tongxiang to Quzhou, from home to abroad, 14 years of development, Huayou cobalt industry has formed a "headquarters in Tongxiang, resources in Africa, base in Quzhou, the market in the world" industrial spatial pattern.

Take the lead in new energy vehicles

The successful listing of Huayou Cobalt Industry has stabilized the company's position in the industry and entered the capital market from the product market, marking that Huayou Cobalt Industry has entered a new stage of development.

But what Chen Xuehua did not expect was that in 2015, because of the sharp fall in commodity prices, especially cobalt, copper, nickel and other products prices continued to fall, the company's performance in that year showed a large loss. "This is the first time that I have lost money since I started my business." Chen Xuehua said.

In a difficult and embarrassing situation, "perseverance" has become Chen Xuehua's most frequently spoken word. Chen Xuehua said that the growth process of Huayou Cobalt Industry is also its own mental journey. At present, the only thing to do is to innovate and persevere, not only to constantly explore in innovation and reform, but also to maintain strategic determination and persevere in the cobalt industry unshakable.

At the same time, Chen Xuehua has set his sights on the development prospects of new energy vehicles, launched the lithium ion ternary cathode material precursor project, specializing in the manufacturing of raw materials for lithium ion power car batteries. "This is the company's next focus on development, but also the general trend of the future automobile market." Chen Xuehua said.

As Chen Xuehua said at the annual meeting, "We want to be the leading enterprise in the new energy materials industry of lithium and electricity!" Chen Xuehua's tone is unshakable firmness and confidence. "We are full of confidence in the future of lithium-ion new energy materials industry."

Wen/Editor Fang You, Journalist of Zheshang Magazine