The upstream industry of refractory materials is mainly refractory raw material processing and manufacturing. Refractory raw materials are divided into two categories: natural raw materials and synthetic raw materials. Natural raw materials mainly include bauxite, magnesite, graphite, clay, dolomite, quartz and other mineral raw materials, as well as raw materials made by sintering, electric fusion and processing of these mineral raw materials (such as high alumina materials, corundum, magnesite, etc. ); synthetic raw materials mainly include mullite, spinel, etc., which are raw materials whose performance is optimized by processing one or more natural raw materials or purified raw materials through a certain synthetic process; the downstream industries of refractory materials are mainly In industries such as steel, building materials, nonferrous metals, chemicals, and electricity, changes in downstream demand will affect the consumption of refractory materials.

In recent years, as China's demand has driven the rapid growth of global alumina demand, international aluminum giants such as Rio Tinto Group, Alcoa, and Rusal have formed strategic alliances, and alumina pricing methods have gradually moved towards indexation. The value of aluminum resources is gradually reflected. The distribution of alumina production capacity in my country is resource-oriented. Alumina production capacity is mainly concentrated in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Guangxi, Guizhou and other places. The alumina production capacity of these five provinces accounts for nearly 95% of the country's total alumina production capacity. According to statistics, the output of my country's alumina industry in 2022 will be 83.862 million tons, and the demand will be 84.845 million tons.

Judging from the total import and export trade volume and trade balance, since 2016, my country's import and export of refractory raw materials has maintained a moderate trade surplus, with obvious export advantages and strong international competitiveness. Judging from the changes, since entering 2020, my country's total trade volume and trade surplus of refractory raw materials have shown an upward trend. In 2022, China's total import and export trade of refractory raw materials will be US$5.668 billion, an increase of 17.30% over the same period last year. my country's import trade of refractory raw materials The amount was US$306 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.16%. As of the first quarter of 2023, the total import and export trade of refractory raw materials nationwide was US$1.314 billion, an increase of 1.16% over the same period last year. Among them, the export trade volume was US$1.241 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.62%; the import trade volume was US$73 million, a year-on-year decrease of 6.16%.