Keyword 1: Difficulty in resuming work
At the beginning of 2020, an "epidemic" disrupted the resumption plans of ceramic companies. The ceramic industry ushered in the "latest" and "most difficult" start-up season. The resumption time of many ceramic companies has been repeatedly postponed compared to the original plan.
According to normal plans, most ceramic companies will resume work and production around February 10, but many companies are facing difficulties in being unable to start operations as expected due to the "epidemic". First, many governments require that "enterprises must wait for notice before starting work, and are not allowed to start work without permission." Second, some companies are worried about the further spread of the epidemic and choose not to start work. Third, employees are unable to return to work on time, making it impossible for companies to start work as expected.
From the final time point of view, the ceramic industry only ushered in a large-scale resumption of work and production in March, which was nearly a month later than the planned resumption of work and production, and ceramic companies in Hubei Province, the "epidemic center", even Only at the end of March and early April did we usher in the centralized resumption of work and production.
Keyword 2: Exhibition cancellation and postponement
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, many exhibition organizers have announced postponements or cancellations in 2020, including Foshan Spring Ceramics Expo, Canton Fair, 2020 Guangzhou Ceramics Industry Exhibition and other exhibitions, which will be conducted online.
According to incomplete statistics from "Ceramic Information" in April 2020, due to the impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic, at least 300 domestic and foreign exhibitions have been postponed or canceled. Among them, the 2020 Bologna Ceramics and Bathroom Show in Italy, originally scheduled to be held in November 2020, has also been cancelled. This is the first time in the past 40 years that the Bologna Ceramics and Bathroom Show has been suspended due to the epidemic since the first edition was held in 1983.
Until July 2020, exhibitions such as the 2020 Foshan Tanzhou Ceramics Expo, Guangzhou Construction Expo, Hebei Gaoyi Ceramics Expo, the 35th Foshan Ceramics Expo (Autumn), and 2020 Guangzhou Design Week are in full swing Activities can only be carried out in an orderly manner under epidemic prevention measures. These exhibitions that can be held undoubtedly carry more industry expectations.
Keyword 3: “Coal to gas” and clean energy
Since the beginning of 2020, the two main production areas of Guangdong's ceramics industry, Qingyuan and Zhaoqing, have been slow to resume production due to the "coal-to-gas" transition. Subsequently, Guangdong’s Qingyuan, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, and Foshan successively issued ultimatums on “coal-to-gas”.
February 28, 2020, Gaoyao, Zhaoqing CityThe district announced that all ceramic enterprises that did not use natural gas for production in the production area could not resume production. As a result, at the end of March, only a few ceramic enterprises in Jinli Town started fires and no enterprises in Deqing County resumed production.
On May 7, 2020, the Qingyuan Municipal Department of Ecology and Environment and the Bureau of Industry and Information Technology jointly organized a working meeting on the comprehensive implementation of the use of natural gas by ceramic enterprises in Qingyuan City. Since May, annual inspections (annual reviews) of boilers and gas generators related to enterprises that have not fully implemented the use of natural gas ceramics have been suspended.
On June 29, 2020, the Jiangmen Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau conducted interviews with individual ceramic companies that have made slow progress in the "coal-to-gas" process. Yuan Baomin, director of Enping Branch, proposed that the "coal-to-gas" task must be completed before the end of September 2020. Ceramic enterprises that fail to complete the coal-to-gas conversion task as required will be shut down and exited.
On July 9, 2020, Foshan City held a meeting to promote the clean energy transformation of the building ceramics industry, clarifying that any kiln production line that fails to complete the transformation tasks and accept acceptance on time will be suspended from January 1, 2021. .
At the same time, in the Gao'an production area of Jiangxi, on December 13, 2020, the world's largest fully automatic coal-to-gas production "Gao'an Jimin Credible Clean Energy Project" successfully started trial production and gas supply. Gao'an Ceramics Base Enterprises will "Centralized gas supply" was officially adopted, and the first batch of 12 ceramic companies all completed ignition and put into operation that day.
Keyword 4: Rock slabs are “crazy”
In 2020, China's ceramic industry has set off a crazy "slate craze". Slate has ushered in a "full explosion" in the country, and the stone giant Hebei Lingbiao has invested 2.08 billion yuan in cross-border construction of 4 projects. Slab production line.
"Ceramic Information" "Ceramic Industry Long March" 2020 National Tile Production Capacity Survey Data shows that 171 large/rock/thin plate production lines have been built across the country, with a daily production capacity of 1.9785 million square meters. Only in Guangdong Province, large/rock/thin plate production lines have been built There are 87 thin plate production lines with a daily production capacity of approximately 848,500 square meters.
Stone slabs have undergone a round of rapid expansion and development, with rapid product updates and rich styles. The boundaries of rock slabs are constantly being broken. The products have been innovatively iterated to 3mm thin slabs, curved slabs, healthy slabs, and translucent slabs. , high-strength polished slate, special high-performance ceramic slate, etc.
The specifications of rock slabs are no longer limited to large sizes. Due to the small investment and quick production change, small rock slabs have also grown wildly”. According to previous rough statistics from "Ceramic Information", from May to September 2020 alone, nearly 20 ceramic companies in Guangdong have deployed slate production lines, most of which are small slates.
Site that is too "crazy" will inevitably cause the market to lose its rationality. In 2020, rock slabs have been advancing rapidly, resulting in overcapacity and bottoming out of profits. Many ceramic companies have changed their rock slab production lines back to ceramic tile production lines. Due to the proliferation of small rock slabs, the difficulty in controlling quality and processing performance, as well as the single color and product explosion, a price war broke out, and eventually they became "commercial goods".
Keyword 5: Medium plate heat
In 2020, medium-sized plates will expand production on a large scale in major production areas such as Jiangxi and Shandong. Medium-sized plates will also become the category with the largest production capacity after glazed tiles in Gao'an.
According to "Ceramic Information" "2020 Ceramic Industry Long March" survey data, Gao'an production areas (including Yifeng and Shanggao) currently have 31 medium plate production lines, with a daily production capacity of 730,000 square meters; Jiangxi Province has medium plate production lines There are 42 production lines with a daily production capacity of 862,000 square meters.
In November 2020, 7 ceramic companies in Zibo and Linyi, Shandong Province started construction of a total of 7 large-capacity medium plate production lines. The designed daily production capacity of a single line reached 35,000-40,000 square meters, which means that the daily production capacity of medium plate in Shandong production areas has reached At least 245,000 square meters will be added in 2021. Together with the original daily production capacity of medium plates, the daily production capacity of medium plates in Shandong production areas will exceed 400,000 square meters in 2021.
Ceramic enterprises in Jinjiang and Nan'an, Fujian Province, the other leading medium plate production areas, have small production lines and flexible production conversions. It is very common for the same production line to mix and burn multiple products. In fact, there are already more than 12 production lines that can produce medium plates.
With the rapid expansion of mid-board, competition among manufacturers has become increasingly fierce, and the sales pressure on terminal dealers has gradually increased.
Keyword 6: New line of technological innovation
The sluggish market, rapid iteration of product innovation, and the approaching "coal-to-gas" transition have led to a wave of technological transformation in the industry in 2020 for large/medium/thin/rock slabs.
Affected by the "coal-to-gas" transition in production areas such as Qingyuan and Zhaoqing in Guangdong, the profits of conventional products have declined. Large slabs and rock slabs have become the absolute mainstream for Guangdong ceramic enterprises to change their lines. According to incomplete statistics, in 2020, more than 30 new lines for large-scale technological transformation/rock slabs were fired in Guangdong production areas.
Jiajiang, Sichuan is also one of the production areas with the most technologically improved production lines and the fastest expansion of production capacity in the country in 2020. Incomplete statistics from public data show that SichuanCeramic enterprises have put into production and started construction of more than 20 production lines. The technical transformation direction is mainly to produce new and popular products such as thick plates, thin plates, rock plates, and insulation boards.
In addition, in 2020, another new line of technological transformation will be hot in the Jiangxi production area. Judging from the direction of the new lines of technical transformation of many ceramic enterprises, the new lines of technical transformation are undoubtedly inseparable from two aspects: on the one hand, upgrading equipment to cope with increasingly tightened environmental protection indicators and reducing production costs; on the other hand, changing the production of high value-added products , improve competitiveness.
Keyword 7: Ocean freight surges
Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, due to the shortage of workers caused by the epidemic, poor turnover of shipping containers, as well as national policies, limited domestic container production capacity and other factors, it has been "hard to find a container". Since the second half of 2020, container shipping prices have Soared sharply and maintained high levels.
In July 2020, the Sino-Indian border conflict continued to escalate, triggering a domestic boycott of "Made in China" in India: DHL and FedEx announced the suspension of goods sent from China to India; in addition, affected by various factors, the sea freight from China to India increased year-on-year. An increase of approximately 475%.
The increase in ocean shipping routes to the Americas is even more astonishing. From September to early December, the sea freight per container increased by US$4,000 to US$5,000. According to the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index in December 2020, the freight rate for 40-foot containers on the East US route has exceeded the US$4,700 mark, setting a record high.
Many freight forwarding companies said that bookings for Southeast Asian routes such as Thailand and Indonesia are currently suspended because customers and exporters cannot afford the increase in sea freight. In fact, shipping rates on Southeast Asian lines have been rising since October, with an average increase of 10 times in two months, and at some points the increase was as high as 150%.
From anti-dumping to the impact of low prices on ceramics from other countries, to the impact of this year’s COVID-19 epidemic, ceramic foreign traders face both challenges and opportunities every year. In the first half of the year, ceramic foreign traders were worried about orders; in the second half of the year, there were orders and goods but no cabinets. Moreover, the export volume of ceramic companies in December was only 10% of previous years.
Keyword 8: The capital market is turbulent
In 2020, the capital market is turbulent and the restructuring of the global ceramic industry is intensifying. On August 14, 2020, Country Garden Ventures’ investment in Oceano and Mona Lisa was terminated; on August 18, 2020, the Southern United Equity Exchange disclosed the news of the transfer of 66% of the equity of four subsidiaries of Eagle Brand Ceramics ;On October 19, 2020, Dongpeng Holdings was successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange...
On September 29, 2020, Evergrande Real Estate, which was in debt crisis, signed a supplementary agreement with 86.3 billion yuan of strategic investors in the 130 billion yuan strategic investment. The strategic investors agreed to convert to long-term common equity holdings, and the equity ratio remain unchanged. Among them, at least three ceramic companies are involved, Xinmingzhu with 1.5 billion yuan, Jiamei (Marco Polo) with 1.5 billion yuan, and Oceano’s data is unknown.
On December 22, 2020, Country Garden Venture Capital subscribed for 62.42 million yuan in new registered capital of Guangzhou Simone Lisa for 200 million yuan, and the remaining 137.58 million yuan was included in the capital principal. On December 30, 2020, Keda Manufacturing exercised a call option to purchase 40% of the equity held by Witaly in Italy. In addition to the previous purchase of 60% of the shares of Wego held by Witaly, Keda Manufacturing has completed the acquisition of 100% of the shares of Wego in Italy.
On December 31, 2020, Mona Lisa Group plans to acquire the equity of Zhimei Shande held by Putin Ceramics by paying cash and become the controlling shareholder of Zhimei Shande...
In 2020, the construction and ceramics industry is also actively embracing the capital market. Every acquisition or restructuring event has its own agenda. Leading ceramic companies have expanded capital to create "super ceramic companies", and the support of the capital market has helped leading ceramic companies to rapidly expand their market share.
Keyword 9: “Enclosure” expansion
In 2020, large-scale ceramic companies have aggressively expanded their land and invested in new production line projects that are more modern and high-end. At the same time, the intervention of capital has made the concentration of ceramic products and brands higher and higher, which may further promote the formation of industry giants.
On September 24, 2020, Oceano and the Teng County Government officially signed a framework agreement for the investment in the ceramic production project of the second base. Oceano’s second base will invest another 2.5 billion yuan to build 10 more modern ceramic production lines , with an expected output value exceeding 4 billion yuan
On November 25, 2020, the Nobel high-end ceramics Wuhu production base with a total investment of 5 billion yuan signed a contract to settle in Fanchang District, Anhui Province. It plans to build 15 new construction ceramics production lines and 1 TCM special ceramic membrane production line. After the project is completed, it will With an annual output of 100 million square meters of high-end ceramics, it is expected to achieve annual sales revenue of 8 billion yuan and annual tax revenue of 500 million yuan.
On December 3, 2020, Jinyitao successfully bid for a 53.5-acre plot of land located on the north side of Hengyi Road, Nanzhuang Town, Chancheng District, Foshan City and on the east side of Aobianyong, will be built into a green home industrial park at the headquarters of Jinyitao Group. In the future, after the project is put into operation, it is expected that the cumulative new industrial output value will be 1.46 billion yuan in five years.
In the second half of 2020, Jiufang Tile Industry has invested in two new production bases and six new production lines in Pingxiang, Jiangxi and Danling, Sichuan. After all are put into operation, Jiufang Tile Industry will have 7 production bases and 19 production lines across the country. The annual sales of the single brand of "Jiufang Tile Industry" will reach 1.5 billion yuan, further consolidating the ceramic roof tile industry under construction "leading position"...
Keyword 10: Gas shortage and rising gas prices
Unstable gas prices and insufficient gas supply are the "sequelae" of ceramic companies in many production areas after completing the "coal-to-gas" transition. As a result, during 2020, "gas cuts" and "gas price increases" occurred frequently in the industry .
In November 2020, all natural gas prices in Guangdong increased. Among them, the Heyun area of Qingyuan, which only uses LNG for gas supply, saw gas prices as high as 3.18 yuan/m3; pipeline gas prices in many areas of Zhaoqing increased by nearly 20%, and LNG increased by nearly 25%.
In December 2020, the arrival price of Shandong LNG has exceeded 9,000 yuan/ton, that is, more than 6.4 yuan/cubic meter. The price of pipeline natural gas for most ceramic companies in Linyi is between 2.9-3.15 yuan.
The "angry madness" is over, and the "angry madness" is over.
Since the completion of natural gas transformation in Jiangmen, Guangdong in September 2020, it has suffered from insufficient gasification capacity and limited enterprise production. On October 21, with less than a month of gas consumption, the Puqiao Building Materials Industrial Park in Shahu Town, Enping City, used an LNG gas station to supply gas. The gas demand was too large and the existing pipeline gasification capacity was insufficient, resulting in a "gas shortage". Keep most of the production lines in a warm state.
According to a previous report by "Ceramic Information", entering December 2020, LNG in Guangdong is not only in short supply, but ceramic companies in ceramic production areas that only use LNG are also restricted from using gas, seriously affecting production. Among them, the production of ceramic enterprises in Qingyuan Heyun District and surrounding areas, which was the first to undergo natural gas transformation and adopt a single gas source of LNG, was most affected.
In early December 2020, gas consumption restrictions occurred twice in a week due to insufficient gas supply in the Heyun area of Qingyuan, and many ceramic companies were forced to limit production for several days.
(The article is reproduced fromCeramic information)
