"Now, all prices of our packaged color materials have been increased by 10 yuan/kg." Recently, the person in charge of a domestic color company told "Ceramic Information" that the price of a ton of packaged color materials has been increased by 10,000 yuan month-on-month, an increase of more than 10 yuan. %, among which the color materials such as package red increased even more.
The prices of production raw materials such as cobalt oxide, zirconium oxide, praseodymium oxide and zinc oxide remain high, resulting in a year-on-year increase in the production cost of colorants per ton by at least 20%. However, the increase in the unit price of colorant sales cannot match the rising costs. Amplitude and speed. Judging from the current situation, orders for color material companies have increased instantly, but profitability has weakened.
01
Raw material prices remain high
The cost per ton has increased by at least 20%
"Currently, the cost per ton of colorants has increased by at least 20%." The person in charge of the above-mentioned colorant companies said frankly that since this year, the prices of raw materials such as cobalt oxide, zirconium oxide, praseodymium oxide and zinc oxide used in the production of colorants have increased. Stay high. Although the price of cobalt oxide, which once soared, has dropped from 380,000 yuan per ton at the beginning of the year to the current 250,000 to 260,000 yuan, compared with May 2020, the price of cobalt oxide still increased by 60,000 to 80,000 yuan, an increase of 25 %about.
It is worth mentioning that the current price of cobalt oxide is relatively stable, remaining at 250,000 to 260,000 yuan. In sharp contrast to cobalt oxide, the prices of other raw materials for color production, including zirconium oxide, praseodymium oxide, etc., are still rising. "The price of zirconium oxychloride used in our production was 11,500 yuan/ton at the end of last year, and now it is 14,000 yuan/ton." The person in charge of another color company said that the increase has reached 22%.
Not only have the prices of raw materials increased significantly, but the supply of some materials has also been relatively tight. Taking zinc oxide as an example, the current unit price of zinc oxide is about 16,000 yuan/ton, which is an increase of 33.33% compared with 12,000 yuan/ton in April and May 2020. In fact, the price of zinc oxide fell back last year, from 13,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year to 12,000 yuan/ton, but it has not fallen back this year.
“Zinc oxide has been relatively volatile this year. Last week, zinc futures rose by 600 yuan/ton in a single day, and zinc oxide manufacturers closed the market and stopped quoting prices.” A zinc oxide supplier in Foshan said that logically speaking, metal Fluctuations of hundreds of dollars in zinc will not affect zinc oxide. "Many people cannot understand this strange phenomenon."
Some analysts pointed out that the demand for zinc oxide has not increased significantly, and the current price remains high. This may be due to the decrease in the amount of imported zinc ash,Strict environmental protection policies have led to high prices.
02
The order is scheduled for 2 months later
Profits have fallen to the bottom...
"Although the price of color materials is generally rising, there are many orders. The factory is very busy, and orders are scheduled for more than two months." The person in charge of a color material factory told "Ceramic Information" that many ceramic companies believe that raw materials There is a high chance that the price will continue to rise, so I choose to stock up on more goods now.
But the above-mentioned person in charge is also worried, "I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one side, the price of raw materials is rising, and on the other side, the profit is being compressed."
"Now, all prices of our packaged color materials have been increased by 10 yuan/kg." Recently, the person in charge of a domestic color company told "Ceramic Information" that the price of a ton of packaged color materials has been increased by 10,000 yuan month-on-month, an increase of more than 10 yuan. %, among which the color materials such as package red increased even more.
"Have your selling prices increased?" When "Ceramic Information" posed this question to the person in charge of the above-mentioned color material, he asked helplessly: "Then it must be true, otherwise would it be a loss?"
Although the prices of color material products have also been raised accordingly, the price increase is far less than the cost increase, and color material companies need to digest it themselves.
Some insiders said: "Every year there will be a wave of price increases for raw materials, but it will not be as crazy as this year. The increase is astonishingly large. It has changed from the previous 'convention' of slight increases and has skyrocketed by 30% in the short term. , and even more."
At this stage, competition among color companies is very fierce. On the one hand, raw material prices have skyrocketed, and on the other hand, ceramic companies have transferred part of their cost pressure to color companies. In addition, the homogeneity of the products of color companies is also serious, especially the black color material for rock slabs, which was a hot business last year.
In mid-2020, domestic rock slab production capacity exploded for the first time, creating a large demand for black colorants for rock slabs. At that time, black colorants for rock slabs were highly profitable and in tight supply. As a result, many color companies have joined the ranks of producing and selling this product.
Up to now, although domestic slate production lines have been repeatedly added and production capacity has grown rapidly again, at the beginning of this year, color companies have clearly felt that the sales of black color materials for slate slabs are weak.
According to the analysis of the person in charge of the above-mentioned color material factory, it is mainly because many colleagues have followed up on the use of black color materials for rock slabs.The production and sales volume suddenly surged, and the digestion capacity of rock slab manufacturers was limited. Therefore, it was felt that the sales of black colorants for rock slab blanks were not ideal.
With profits repeatedly hitting the bottom, some color material companies hope to survive and develop steadily by reasonably controlling costs, developing new marketing models, and developing new products to enter "new" fields.
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
