Xiang Guangda (; born 1958) is a Chinese industrialist. He is the founder of the Tsingshan Holding Group, a metallurgical company primarily engaged in the manufacturing of

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

Early life and career

Xiang was born on 1958 to a working class family in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. He got his first job in 1980 as a mechanic in a state-run fishery company under Deng Xiaoping's iron rice bowl employment program, and was eventually promoted to director of the company's workshop. In 1986, he and his relatives established a workshop manufacturing car windows and doors.

Tsingshan Group

He left his job at the state-owned firm in 1988 to become a full-time entrepreneur, raising the equivalent of around USD 100,000 from friends and relatives to fund their business. According to Xiang in an interview, he pivoted to manufacturing

after a 1992 trip to Germany which convinced him that his car parts manufacturing would not be sustainable in the long term. His firm was renamed to Tsingshan in 1998, and the company grew quickly due to its focus on bringing down costs. The firm pioneered the use of cheaper

nickel pig iron lang=en, upright=1.5, World production of nickel pig iron, and proportion of that in the primary nickel production., alt=graphique, link=File:Nickel_pig_iron_production.svg%3Flang=en Nickel pig iron (NPI) is a low grade ferronickel invented in Ch ...

in place of metallic nickel in its stainless steel production, and implemented the use of the rotary kiln furnace for continuous production. Under Xiang, Tsingshan began to invest in nickel mines in Indonesia during the 2000s, when reserves were still unproven. Tsingshan established nickel and stainless steel production complexes in Sulawesi (the

Morowali Industrial Park The Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) is an industrial park hosting primarily nickel-related industries in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is the largest nickel processing site in Indonesia, which is the world's top ni ...

), which further lowered the production cost for stainless steel. Tsingshan also established production plants in India and Zimbabwe. Although in the mid-2000s Tsingshan was one of several stainless steel manufacturers in Wenzhou, by 2021 it accounted for nearly one-fourth of the global output, being by far the largest in the industry. Xiang's net worth is estimated by '' Forbes'' in 2021 as USD 1.2 billion. In the several months leading to March 2022, Xiang began taking a large

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

position in nickel through Tsingshan, in order to

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...

against falling prices. Due to a rise in nickel prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, Xiang was forced to purchase nickel contracts at the London Metal Exchange, creating a

short squeeze In the stock market, a short squeeze is a rapid increase in the price of a stock owing primarily to an excess of short selling of a stock rather than underlying fundamentals. A short squeeze occurs when there is a lack of supply and an excess of d ...

. The price of nickel at the exchange increased by more than 100 percent, reaching over USD 100,000 per tonne before trading was suspended. By the time trading had been suspended, Tsingshan had suffered USD 10 billion in losses on paper. However, the Hong Kong-owned LME resorted to retroactively reverse tradings that had already happened, and after prices stabilized and trading was resumed, Xiangs' losses were marked as significantly lower, sparking claims of trading manipulation by the exchange in order to favor Xiang Guangda, which the LME denied. Nickel prices later did fall, and Tsingshan's losses ended up at around USD 1 billion as Xiang closed his positions.

Family

Xiang's wife along with their daughter Xiang Yangyang hold Singaporean citizenships.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiang, Guangda 1958 births Living people Chinese industrialists Businesspeople from Wenzhou 21st-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese company founders 20th-century Chinese businesspeople