After mid-June, due to the dual impact of production, sales and cost pressures, the scope of production suspensions of ceramic enterprises in pan-Gao'an production areas (Yifeng, Shanggao, Gao'an) spread from the Siwa category to the ceramic tile field. Among them, Siwa, Antique bricks and porcelain tiles are the main categories that have been discontinued in the Pan-Gaoan production area.
As of mid-August, nearly 60 lines in the Pan-Gaoan production area have been suspended or have undergone technical transformation. Among them, the Xiwa line has a shutdown rate of 80%, and the antique bricks have a shutdown rate of 46%. The number of shutdowns in these two categories has reached More than 40 items.
According to "Ceramic Information", affected by the rising prices of raw materials such as coal, natural gas and chemicals, some companies in the Pan-Gaoan production area launched the second round of price increases this year in August.
At the same time, it is expected that after late August, with the reduction of inventory and the shortage of supply of some product categories, some ceramic companies in the Pan-Gaoan production area are preparing to resume production. At the same time, a number of production lines that had previously been discontinued for technical transformation due to the off-season and high costs will gradually resume production before the end of August.
According to "Ceramic Information", the Siwa production line has the largest number of kiln shutdowns in the Pan-Gao'an production area. Nearly 30 Siwa production lines have stopped production in the entire production area, with the kiln shutdown rate reaching 80%. A considerable number of Siwa companies Basically, the entire factory is in a state of shutdown, and some companies only retain 1-2 lines in production.
Such a large-scale shutdown of kilns is mainly due to a sharp decline in sales and a sharp increase in the prices of raw materials such as coal and colorants.
“In August, the company will begin to resume production of some production lines. On the one hand, after the suspension of production, the inventory has been reduced to a certain extent. On the other hand, the price of Siwa in the production areas has increased slightly in July and August, filling part of the gap. Cost pressure." According to the person in charge of a Siwa company in Gao'an.
In fact, in addition to Siwa, antique bricks are also a category that has suffered from this round of cost and production and sales pressure. According to "Ceramic Information", the current production suspension rate of antique brick lines in Pan-Gao'an production areas has reached more than 46%. Some manufacturers with only one antique brick line even plan to abandon ordinary-sized antique bricks and switch to producing glossy bricks or large-sized bricks. Antique bricks.
“Last month we lost hundreds of thousands of yuan on antique bricks alone. It has always been difficult to increase the price of antique bricks in the Pan-Gaoan production area. This time, affected by the significant increase in costs, we basically lost money on everything we did. '. If it were not due to the inversion of production costs, the current production and sales rate would not be enough to cause a large-scale shutdown of antique brick kilns in the production area," said the owner of a ceramics company in Gao'an.
It is understood that in addition to the high kiln shutdown rate of Western tiles and antique bricks, the impact of porcelain tiles on medium-sized boards in recent yearsUnder the epidemic, production capacity has decreased sharply, and there are only 9 porcelain tile production lines left in the Pan-Gaoan production area, and most of the porcelain tile production lines are currently in a state of shutdown.
After entering June, the production and sales rate of a considerable number of ceramic tile manufacturers in the Pan-Gaoan production area is around 60%-70%. However, at the same time, there are also a group of companies that have maintained a production and sales rate of more than 90%, including leading companies. The inventory is even less than 1 month.
Faced with the large-scale kiln shutdown of antique brick lines in pan-Gao'an production areas, Augute Enterprise, as a company specializing in high-end antique bricks in Gao'an production areas, has still maintained a performance that exceeds production and sales rates.
Wang Zixiang, chairman of Augute Ceramics, showed the company's sales report for July and August to "Ceramic Information". The company's product sales in July were in short supply, and in the past 10 days in August, the sales of Augute Ceramics The performance also reached 95%. In August, due to the impact of the epidemic, sales in some areas were unable to proceed normally due to epidemic control. However, as the epidemic is lifted, sales will increase in the future.
It is worth noting that this year, the leading companies in the Pan-Gaoan production area have relatively little pressure on production and sales caused by the off-season. As one of the top three companies in the country in terms of production capacity, ASUS Ceramics Group has a daily ceramic tile production capacity of 450,000 square meters. Currently, porcelain tiles have been discontinued due to product iterations. At the same time, the large slab line at ASUS Ceramics Base is undergoing technical transformation, and a production line planning to launch a 600×1200mm line slate series is also scheduled to resume production at the end of the month. Xie Sijun, general manager of marketing of ASUS Ceramics Group, said: "From the perspective of sales, since the beginning of the year, it has maintained a steady and rising trend. The company's existing inventory is less than one month, especially the company's own brand channel sales are stable."
Huang Jinping, director of the General Manager Office of Sun Ceramics Group, also said that in June, the production and sales rate of the entire Sun Group exceeded 100%, and the production and sales rate in July was also above 95%. The current inventory of the entire group is less than one month.
Starting from August 1, the price of natural gas in the Gao'an production area rose to 4.28 yuan/m³, and the price of coal also increased again in August. The sharp rise in energy and bulk raw material prices this year has put huge cost pressure on ceramic companies and forced the suspension of many ceramic production lines.
"Stop production if the price is not raised", "Don't dare to accept orders if there are orders"... are the difficult choices faced by enterprises in pan-high-security production areas in the past two months.
“Many colors and varieties are now out of stock in the warehouse, and the company is ready to resume production. In fact, the manufacturer will also lose money after the resumption of production, but if it does not resume production, customers will be lost. However, after the resumption of production, the company will increase the prices of some products. "A ceramics company in Gao'anthe person in charge said.
According to insiders in the production area, the Gaoan centralized gas supply project plans to start supplying gas to base enterprises in September after more than two months of equipment adjustments and testing. Referring to the gas supply price in the first half of the year, with the centralized gas supply in September The operation of gas supply will inevitably increase the current energy cost pressure of enterprises again. By then, enterprises in high-security production areas may increase product prices across the board.
According to "Ceramic Information", in late August, some production lines that have been suspended or have undergone technical transformation will resume production in the Pan-Gaoan production area. However, in the eyes of many manufacturers, the resumption of production is not due to the recovery in sales, but rather to the recovery of sales. Most of them are worried about the loss of customers and releasing part of the inventory pressure during the suspension of production.
It is worth noting that since August, many manufacturers in Pangao'an production areas have increased prices on all products, especially products with lower unit prices, such as exterior wall tiles, small floor tiles, antique tiles, and west tiles. and other categories, but the price increase only slightly spreads a small part of the cost pressure.
(Article reproduced from Ceramic Information)
