GMTC attaches great importance to the social responsibilities of quality, environmental protection, safety, and hygiene in the supply chain system. Therefore, new suppliers of key raw materials are audited to ensure they have passed ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and other environmental safety and health certification, and to note if there has been any major environmental safety and health incidents in the past three years. New suppliers are also required to promise that they must comply with the "Labor Standards Act", "Occupational Safety and Health Act", human rights, GMTC's compliance with the requirements of the Directive on the Prohibition and Restriction of Hazardous Substances, conflict-free minerals regulations and other implementation rules. GMTC uses environmental criteria when selecting 100% of new suppliers in 2023. In addition, to foster close cooperation between GMTC and the key raw material suppliers and in order to improve supply quality, material sources and services to stabilize supply and lower relevant costs, all of GMTC’s key raw material suppliers must comply with the Company’s Supplier Management Procedures so that raw materials conform with the Company’s needs and regulatory requirements. GMTC also conducted regular monitoring and supplier evaluation to control their delivery status and product quality.

Letter of Commitment for Supplier / Sub-contractor comply with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

I. Code of Ethical Conduct

II. Social Responsibility

1. Not to employ or support the employment of child labor

2. Obligation to provide a healthy and safe environment (including work and life), and to take appropriate steps to prevent accidents and situations affecting health.

3. Not to engage in or to support any form of discrimination (based on race, social class, nationality, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, etc.), and respect the right to beliefs and customs.

4. Prohibition of sexual harassment

5. Disciplinary measures: No corporal punishment, mental or physical punishment, or verbal insults

6. Working hours: Comply with statutory regular working hours and overtime regulations, prohibit forced labour, and work flexible overtime according to the collective agreement.

7. Remuneration: Meet the minimum wage, and make no deductions for disciplinary actions

III. Quality Awareness Promotion

Hazardous Substance Management

In order to comply with environmental protection requirements, reduce the impact on the environment and the risk of harm to human health, GMTC strictly abides by the requirements of the Directive on the Ban and Restriction of Hazardous Substances, implements raw material composition control, and fulfills registration obligations. All raw material and key material suppliers are required to submit safety data sheets and sign self-declaration documents. GMTC aims to jointly establish a sustainable and green special alloy industry with the upstream supply chain.

Non-Conflict Minerals

As a special steel manufacturer, GMTC uses ferroalloy as a raw material. Since 2012, we have been inventorying the supply status of raw materials, and completely refused to deal with mineral sources of suppliers that have any potential link to terrorism. In terms of potential risks from conflict minerals, including tin (Sn), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), gold (Au), and cobalt (Co), GMTC currently only uses tungsten and cobalt in its production process. Therefore, suppliers are required to sign the Declaration of Conflict Free Minerals for tungsten and cobalt metals, declaring that the source of their raw materials derived from ore sourced from conflict areas. When necessary, GMTC also visits suppliers on an irregular basis in order to confirm that their supply sources meet the requirements.

Supply Chain Carbon Emissions Survey

In 2023, GMTC started to conduct carbon emissions surveys on the supply chain of (semi-)finished products to urge suppliers to pay attention to greenhouse gas emissions awareness and move towards a sustainable supply chain system together.

GMTC conducts annual supplier evaluations to control the supply quality and add value to supplier services, focusing on the quality, delivery and services (cooperation), and decides whether to continue to trade with the suppliers according to the evaluation results. In 2023, GMTC purchased more than 7,700 items, including raw materials, materials, spare parts, and (semi-) finished products, and had transactions with more than 700 suppliers worldwide, of which domestic suppliers accounted for more than 86%. There are 117 key raw material suppliers, of which 81% are steelmaking raw material (including ferroalloy, steel scrap) suppliers, while 62% are mainly domestic suppliers. All of them have completed the annual evaluation process and 87% of suppliers received a grade of A, 9% are B suppliers, and 4% are C suppliers. GMTC will moderately adjust the transaction volume and strengthen communication to improve supply quality.

In order to promote local economic development, reduce raw material transportation to reduce carbon emissions, and improve the stability of the supply chain, we promote the localization of our supply chain. In the past three years, the proportion of local suppliers has been above 80%.

Taking GMTC's main product H13 tool steel as an example, GMTC has been recycling scrap H13 tool steel in large quantities around the world for a long time, and the amount was nearly 10,000 Metric tons in 2023. In addition to reusing a large amount of H13 tool steel for smelting, it is also widely used in other tool steels, high speed steels and other steels. To avoid environmental pollution, recycled scrap will be transported in bulk to reduce packaging waste such as wooden boxes, plastic boxes, and space bags, and avoid air pollution during smelting.

ince scrap steel is one of GMTC’s key raw materials to produce special steel, the Company has set up stringent rules for procurement and acceptance. In order to improve the quality of steel scrap supply, GMTC will support and train the suppliers that are willing to improve self-inspection skills to better understand GMTC's steel scrap grades and specifications and achieve stable supply. In addition, GMTC also requests suppliers that store scrap steel directly on the ground to improve the on-site environment, and lay cement or iron plates to avoid environmental or geological pollution. Improvement of the suppliers’ operating environment can significantly reduce dust and impurities from steel scrap, and enhance the purity of steel scrap. GMTC hopes to develop a sustainable supply chain via the joint cooperation of upstream and downstream companies.