Recently, the "Guiding Opinions on the Development of the Architectural Ceramics and Sanitary Ware Industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") compiled by the China Architectural Ceramics and Sanitary Ware Industry Association was officially released, triggering It has attracted widespread attention and discussion among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain. China Ceramics and Bathroom Industry Media Center specially invited Xu Xiwu, vice president of the association, to give a comprehensive interpretation of the "Opinions". The association's public account will report in two phases.
The development of the ceramic and sanitary ware industry in the past two years is very consistent with the tone set by the Central Economic Work Conference. President Miao Bin summed up this echoing relationship with the words "progress while maintaining stability, and worrying while maintaining stability".
First of all, the development of the ceramic tile industry is closely related to the trend of the domestic real estate market. The country's tone for real estate is "stability", which also sets the tone for the development of the ceramic tile industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Urbanization is still advancing, and urbanization has brought huge increases in the consumer market. Going hand in hand with urbanization is the growth of the middle class. Enterprises must be fully prepared to serve the middle-income group and be able to meet the consumption needs of this growing consumer group. The consumption of the middle class requires high quality, good service, high efficiency, competitive prices, and a good brand. At the same time, consumers’ personalized needs have also brought many new concepts to the industry. These may be converted into future growth points for the industry.
With the introduction of the three-child policy, supporting encouragement policies are also imperative. This is a positive signal for future consumption, whether it is engineering channels or personal consumption. Finally, the impact of changes in demographic structure cannot be ignored. In 2021, China's elderly population will account for close to 20%, and it will soon enter an aging society, and will soon enter a deeply aging society. Capable companies should deploy products suitable for aging in advance to meet the personalized needs of market segments and consolidate their brand position.
Specifically in the sanitary ware industry, at the end of 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Five-Year Action Plan for Improvement of Rural Living Environment (2021-2025)". An important aspect is to promote the rural toilet revolution , we must gradually popularize sanitary toilets in rural areas, effectively improve the quality of toilet renovations, and strengthen the harmless treatment and resource utilization of toilet feces. This will promote the positive development of the bathroom industry. Especially after infrastructure such as drainage systems and water supply systems are improved, the popularity of sanitary ware will further increase. At the same time, with the advancement of the construction of a new socialist countryside, the difference in living environment between urban and rural areas is gradually narrowing, and products representing high-quality consumption such as smart toilets will also have broad application space. This trend has been gradually realized in the Zhejiang Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone.
At the same time, with the implementation of environmental protection policies and the popularization of green buildings, the proportion of prefabricated buildings in new buildings will become larger and larger. New products such as integrated bathrooms that increase the equipment rate are also future market growth points.
In the short term, the epidemic will have an adverse impact on the manufacturing and transportation of sanitary ware products, but in the long term, the epidemic has changed people's concepts of hygiene, and the emphasis on hygiene and health will increase the global market for sanitary ware products. need. International trade has little impact on my country's sanitary ware exports. The export ratio of China's sanitary ware products remains at about 40%, which also shows that China's sanitary ware products are the most competitive internationally.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan, whether for architectural ceramics or sanitary ware, the implementation of high-quality development and carbon peak carbon neutrality goals are the main issues faced by the industry during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. All industry plans, products District planning and enterprise planning must focus on these two topics. Not only that, but there is also a change in thinking: in the past five years, external promotion has played an important role, and environmental governance is the main pressure we feel in our development. In the future, new processes, new technologies, and new technologies spawned by the "double carbon" concept will Products mainly come from the internal factors of the industry itself. Internal promotion plays a dominant role in the development of the industry. Enterprises must proactively optimize internal technical research, talent reserves, management structures, etc., and combine external policy changes to seize opportunities and develop. grow.
Industrial structure optimization and energy and environmental protection policies must be combined. In the field of ceramic tiles, from the perspective of output, the carbon peak has been achieved. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, output has peaked, falling from a peak of 10.3 billion square meters to 89 billion square meters, and has remained at this level in the past two years. level. However, this does not mean that the industry will not develop. On the contrary, the industry still has a lot of room for growth in the future, and high-quality production capacity can be greatly improved. For example, in the past, high-quality products accounted for only 20%. With the development of high-quality consumption, most of them will be high-quality products in the future. The same 9 billion square meters generates much higher sales. Companies that are capable of providing high-quality products and services expand their production capacity, while those that are lagging behind are eliminated, and industry concentration further increases. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, about a quarter of companies withdrew from the market, and this process will continue during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. Therefore, both industries and enterprises must take the path of high-quality development.
The industry must increase R&D and innovation efforts and develop new varieties that are fashionable, creative, functional, and assembled into components.
Rock slabs and foam ceramics are two types of products that will be focused on development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, but they are different. I call them rock slabs that "come naturally" and foam that "travels through mountains and rivers" respectively.ceramics.
The popularity of rock slabs comes naturally. First, the industry is ready. The industry's technical reserves are in place. It successfully researched the manufacturing process of large and thin plates more than ten years ago and perfected a full set of large-size ceramic plate process equipment technology. Second, there is strong demand in the market. For a period of time, there was a problem with the supply of stone, and artificial stone could not meet the quality requirements of high-end places. Rock slabs entered the market as a substitute for natural stone. Third, the application scenarios of slate have expanded in the home field, and have been applied to furniture, cabinets, bathroom countertops, etc., replacing some of the original materials. The combination of the three forms a natural trend.
Foam ceramic wall panels were pioneered by the Chinese. Its concept and functions are very good. It has the functions of light weight, hardness, heat preservation and sound insulation. It can be used as the exterior wall of the building and can also be used in prefabricated buildings. interior wall. Unlike rock slabs, although the relevant technical reserves are basically in place, they have not been widely used. Because application scenarios have not emerged and there are many products with lower prices and more mature applications on the market, architectural designers are now relatively conservative in the application of new materials. Therefore, even if foamed ceramics have product advantages and are in line with the development concept of utilizing solid waste and prefabricated buildings, if the market does not recognize it for the time being, it will still have to go through a process of "traversing mountains and rivers".
A similar situation exists in the bathroom field. Smart toilets have been developed for more than ten years. At first, there were not many consumers, product prices remained high, and the industry developed slowly; but after the market demand increased, its development momentum was very good. In contrast, although integrated bathrooms have benefited from the policy's encouragement of prefabricated buildings, they have not yet been promoted by the market, and their development is still relatively limited.
Therefore, in addition to the technical support of the industry itself and in line with the direction of policy guidance, the development of new products must ultimately be recognized by the market and supported by market capacity.
In addition, the "dual carbon" concept will also stimulate research on new low-carbon products in the industry. In the future, the application of electric energy will become more and more widespread. The combination of heating ceramic tiles with electric energy application is safe and clean, and can also be controlled intelligently. There will definitely be application scenarios in the future. In addition, when we were doing research on negative ion ceramic tile standards, we found that the higher the product temperature, the stronger the ability to induce negative ions. "Heating negative ion ceramic tiles" that combine the advantages of both may appear on the market. Utilizing mature technologies, combined with the "double carbon" goal, in a high-quality development, green development environment, and gathering the strength of the entire industry, we can develop more healthy and low-carbon new products.
Column: Key product development
Ultra-thin ceramic plates, ceramic slabs, and rock slabs with a thickness of less than 3 mm;
Outdoor ceramic thick tiles, thin ceramic tiles, ceramic thin plates, cultural and artistic tiles, imitation naturalMaterial bricks, photovoltaic ceramic tiles;
Functional ceramic tiles such as ceramic tiles and anti-slip floor tiles that improve a healthy environment;
Water-saving toilets, smart toilets, toilet supplies with health care effects;
Low-lead faucets, sensor faucets, thermostatic faucets, healthy bathroom ware;
Integrated bathroom, sanitary ware suitable for the elderly;
New building ceramic products such as foam ceramic partition boards, ceramic wall integrated foam sheets, high-strength sintered permeable bricks;
Additive 3D printing and other new material technology products.
How the future "dual carbon" policy will guide the high-quality development of the industry is an issue that requires the industry to focus on research. This requires not only technical research, but also work on standards and data.
The ceramic industry is relatively complex, and companies cannot be evaluated purely from the perspective of energy consumption. High-quality ceramic products can only be produced when the energy consumption is high. Companies that provide high-quality products and have a high degree of automation will definitely consume more energy than low-end companies. If we only judge based on energy consumption, it is not in line with the high-quality development of the industry advocated by the country. This is the original intention of the association to take the lead in revising the national standard "Energy Consumption Limit per Unit Product for Building Sanitary Ceramics and Microcrystalline Alumina Ceramic Grinding Balls".
First of all, in terms of data, it is necessary to establish a comparable and stable carbon emission data statistics system. On this basis, it is necessary to compile a catalog of industry carbon emission reduction process technologies; compile relevant carbon emission reduction technical standards and identification methods and rules; study carbon peak policies, establish an industry carbon information disclosure mechanism; establish industry carbon footprint assessment standards, and pilot industry "Carbon footprint" identification and label demonstration implementation; establish a corporate carbon reduction points system and promote research on the application of major carbon reduction process technologies in the industry.
In these planning studies related to the low-carbon development of the entire industry, the organizational participation of associations is essential. The national and industrial authorities are studying and releasing a series of carbon peak and carbon neutral policies. The voice of the building, ceramics and sanitary ware industry must also be heard, and the voices of mainstream enterprises in the industry must be heard, and the voice of the healthy development of the industry must be conveyed.
Currently, we are still in the window period for carbon peak adjustment. The length of this window period is uncertain. Once the window period is over, companies that meet the standards will stay and continue to develop, and jointly build a healthier industry ecosystem.
Enterprises must plan ahead and actively respond to future trends. It is necessary to study relevant technologies in advance, and to prepare for carbon peak and carbon neutrality in management. There will be more and more application scenarios for new energy. Now the application of rooftop solar energy has become a standard feature of new projects, and some old factories are also considering renovation. This is already the consensus of the industry.
High-quality development must also be reflected. In the revised draft of "Energy Consumption Limits for Unit Products of Building Sanitary Ceramics and Microcrystalline Alumina Ceramic Grinding Balls", we proposed the concept of energy consumption compensation of 10,000 yuan of output value. Under the condition of dual energy consumption control, products with high output value will have stronger competitiveness. Therefore, excellent companies must have confidence. As long as they persist in development and adhere to the path of high-quality development, they will have more hope in the future.
In the course of more than 40 years of reform and opening up, my country's building ceramics and sanitary ware industry has established and improved the supporting industry chain. Next, our products and our brands will be tempered in the international market and recognized by the international market.
my country's ceramic tile production is huge, and exports only account for a small proportion. However, the construction ceramic equipment and colored glaze industry has achieved the goal of "going out". Industry machinery and equipment have been exported to Southeast Asia, India, and Africa, and have occupied relatively large markets overseas. At the same time, architectural ceramics manufacturers are also investing and building factories overseas.
In contrast, the proportion of exports of sanitary ware products is relatively high, but there are not many successful cases of capital export and overseas factory building. In addition, most of my country's sanitary ware exports follow the OEM processing route and have no brand value output. In the international market, products from Türkiye, Vietnam, Thailand, and Mexico have intensified their impact on Chinese products.
The competition in globalization is not only the competition of export volume, but more importantly, the competition of brands. The brand value of domestic enterprises still needs to be cultivated. We must maintain exchanges with international counterparts, participate in international competition, and provide high-quality product manufacturing systems and service systems. Ultimately, outstanding companies must release production capacity abroad and realize the globalization of brands, thereby enhancing the reputation of Chinese manufacturing in the international market. Image, this is an important issue for the future international development of the industry.
At present, the internal circulation situation of sanitary ware is very good. Global international brands are operating in China, and some international brands have been locally produced in China for many years. This is a very favorable market environment for development. Chinese brands must grow and exercise in this diversified market, make their brands bigger and stronger, lay a solid foundation for going global in the future, and achieve "stability while making progress" in our industry. .
