OREANDA-NEWS. On April 22, 2008 General Director of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (Norilsk Nickel or the Company) Denis Morozov made a working visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

As part of his visit Denis Morozov participated in the event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Stainless Steel Association and met with top managers of China’s major companies.

In Beijing General Director of MMC Norilsk Nickel held a round table discussion that featured participation of heads of major state and private enterprises including TISCO, Baosteel, JISCO, Northeast Special Steel, Tsingshan Holding Group, Sichuan Southwest Stainless Steel Co. and others.

During the meeting Denis Morozov spoke about current developments, production output, and development prospects of MMC Norilsk Nickel. The parties shared their opinions and information on the global and Chinese nickel and stainless steel markets.

In his speech at the event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Stainless Steel Association Denis Morozov emphasized that the Company has strong well-established relations with a range of Chinese enterprises including stainless steel producers.

"Fast and at the same time sustainable growth of the Chinese economy inspires respect. It is important to note that the growth is based on the development of the consumer goods production as well as heavy industries and metallurgy including the stainless steel sector. This fact has contributed largely to the growing Chinese demand for nearly every product of MMC Norilsk Nickel and demonstrated our Company’s great potential for further development and improvement of business relations with Chinese companies", - Denis Morozov said.

In particular, the Company’s nickel exports to China amounted to USD 640 million in 2007, and in 2008 the sales will continue to grow.

Given the growing nickel on the part of Chinese consumers, MMC Norilsk Nickel decided to become a member of the Chinese Stainless Steel Association in 2008. In this way Norilsk Nickel will provide access to and clarify both its policy in the Chinese market and information about the Company and its products.

In order to strengthen ties with nickel consumers in China the Company will keep following its policy of signing direct contracts with large and medium end users experienced in foreign trade operations. In addition, the Company will further develop its distribution chain to ensure nickel deliveries are available to medium and small enterprises in China.

Norilsk Nickel will strongly focus on improving its sale services in Chinese market. To this end, the Company will open a new specialized firm in Shanghai in 2008 that will complement the existing sales office in Hong Kong and a Representative Office in Beijing.

General Director of MMC Norilsk Nickel also pointed out that in 2008 the People’s Republic of China would remain the major driving force of the nickel market following the trend observed in the last several years.

"The year 2008 will be the time of stability, and the highly volatile environment of 2007 is very unlikely to occur with speculators reducing their focus on the nickel market", - Denis Morozov said.