What is the market of refractory industry? China is also relying on the advantages of upstream raw materials, has occupied the first place in refractory production for many years, accounting for about 65% of the world, and its output trend is also closely related to the steel industry, 2013-2017, in the context of the continuous deepening of supply-side reform, the demand for refractories has been declining, and even fell below the 20 million tons mark. In the past five years, the output has been in a relatively stable and stable situation.
Any material whose physical and chemical properties allow it to be used in a high-temperature environment is called a refractory material. Refractories are widely used in metallurgy, chemical industry, petroleum, machinery manufacturing, silicate, power and other industrial fields, and are the largest in the metallurgical industry, accounting for 50%~60% of the total output. The main users of refractories such as steel, cement, glass, non-ferrous metals and other industries of technological development have put forward higher quality and variety requirements for refractories, especially the variety structure adjustment and technological progress of the steel industry, the output of high-quality steel varieties will increase, and the demand for high-quality refractories will increase.
Refractory industry market analysis
Refractories are mainly used in metallurgy, building materials, non-ferrous metals and other high-temperature industries, of which about 70% are used in steel smelting, 17% are used in the building materials industry, and 3% are used in the non-ferrous metal industry. Driven by the demand of downstream industries of refractories at home and abroad, the output of refractory products in China stopped the downward trend for four consecutive years, achieving an annual output of 23.45 million tons, and a year-on-year increase of 2.3% in refractory materials.
The output of dense shaped refractory products was 13.27 million tons, and the growth rate was similar to that of refractory products, of which siliceous bricks and magnesia bricks grew rapidly, increasing by 40% and 30% respectively; the output of thermal insulation and refractory products was 540,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%; The output of amorphous refractory products was 9.64 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%.
Unshaped refractories have become an important member of refractories that cannot be ignored because they do not need to be pre-formed and fired. China's amorphous refractory technology is developing rapidly, the level of research and application is constantly improving, and its performance can basically meet the needs of the domestic high-temperature industry. However, with the rapid development of the high-temperature industry, especially the national energy-saving requirements for the high-temperature industry, the energy-saving of amorphous refractories is still an important and arduous task.
In 2021, the total export trade reached 4.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 54% year-on-year, and a year-on-year increase of 33% in the first three quarters of last year, which is not only due to international sanctions against Russia, but also reflects the continuous improvement of domestic players' independent substitution ability and the steady improvement of international competitiveness.
China is a major consumer of refractories, accounting for about 60% of the world's total consumption, and is still the dominant market for refractories.
In recent years, although the steel production of developed countries and regions such as Japan, the United States and Europe has stagnated, the steel production of China and India, Brazil, Iran and other countries has increased, and the global steel production as a whole is still growing; Other manufacturing industries such as cement, glass, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, ceramics and other manufacturing industries are and will be booming in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other countries and regions.
Refractory industry market prospect analysis
China has become the country with the largest production, consumption and export of refractories and refractory raw materials in the world, and occupies an important position in the field of international refractories. The next step is to accelerate the application of new refractory technologies and the development of new products, improve the level of automation and intelligence in the industry, promote the adjustment of industrial structure, accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading, and promote the high-quality development of the refractory industry.
Looking forward to this year's steel industry, it is expected that the dual control of production capacity and output in the steel industry will be further continued, which is of great significance to the industry to achieve "carbon peak", and the performance of the industry's prosperity is more to hope for the demand for real estate, and with the "three arrows" at the same time, the inflection point of the improvement of the financing environment for real estate players is confirmed, and real estate demand is expected to recover this year.
The improvement of demand is on the one hand, and on the other hand, the carbon reduction of the steel industry, such as the transformation of ultra-low emissions, the transformation of green technology, etc., can be traced upstream, which will inevitably push the refractory players to transform to green production, which are complementary to each other.