Recently, natural gas/industrial gas, which is closely related to ceramic tile production, has had another problem! First, Jiangxi Gao'an Ceramics Construction Base started centralized gas supply on November 1, and the production costs of ceramics companies rose sharply. In November, Guangdong Enping implemented a limited supply guarantee of natural gas, and the amount of gas available to ceramics companies plummeted. In addition, Europe, which has been suffering from a "gas shortage" in the past few months, has recently seen natural gas prices fall into negative numbers, which makes people sigh: See you soon!
Gaoan centralized gas supply, Enping limited supply
Price increases and kiln closures among ceramic companies may intensify in November
According to "Ceramic Information", Jiangxi Gaoan recently issued the "Comprehensive Gas Supply Implementation Plan for the Jimin Credible Centralized Gas Supply Project of Jiangxi Building Ceramics Industry Base" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The plan is proposed to start in 2022 Starting from 0:00 on November 1, 2022, all production lines in the Gaoan Ceramics Base will be fully connected and use centralized gas supply. All two-stage self-made water gas generators will stop operating. All two-stage self-made water gas generators will be sealed in an orderly manner before November 3, 2022. Producing furnace.
It is understood that the plan clearly mentions that all ceramic companies in the Gao'an Ceramics Base (including companies that have switched to producing lithium battery products) using self-made water gas production lines must be fully connected and use centralized gas supply. Previously, the production lines of some ceramic companies in Gao'an have been connected to the use of centralized gas supply: On January 21, the Gao'an Municipal Government held a mobilization meeting to further promote the optimization and upgrading of the ceramic industry. At the meeting, it was announced that centralized gas supply would be restored to every household from February 12. Enterprises must use no less than 2 production lines to connect and use centralized gas supply. Enterprises with 2 or less production lines must use centralized gas supply to connect with each other.
After high-end ceramic enterprises adopt centralized gas supply, the first thing they face is the increase in production costs. Since September, Gaoan centralized gas supply prices have experienced four increases, with an increase of about 10%. A person in charge of a Gaoan ceramic enterprise said that the average production cost per square meter of ceramic tiles at Gaoan's current gas supply price is nearly 2 yuan higher than that of coal, the production cost of medium plates is 0.4 yuan/piece higher, and the production cost of glazed tiles is high. The price is 0.8 yuan/piece. Due to rising costs, many ceramic companies in Gao'an have started a new round of ceramic tile price increases.
According to ceramic industry news, on October 31, Jiangxi Monet Ceramics issued a product price adjustment notice. From November 1, the price of 800 specification polished glaze will increase by 0.7 yuan, and the price of 800 full body and 600×1200mm full body marble will be conveniently increased. 0.5 yuan/piece. On October 30, Jiayu Ceramics issued a price adjustment notice and decided toStarting from March 1st, all the company's products (including ridge tiles) will be increased by 0.05 yuan. From October 30 to 31, Siwa companies such as Jinglong, Jinyang, Guofeng, Guanli, Xinding and Zhibo Building Materials successively issued price increase notices, and almost all Siwa categories under them increased by 0.05 yuan/piece.
As production costs rise, some high-tech ceramics companies, in addition to planning to increase the ex-factory price of ceramic tiles, will also decide whether to shut down their kilns for maintenance in advance based on sales in November.
When Gaoan is about to implement comprehensive centralized gas supply, Guangdong natural gas also has a new situation. On October 30, Enping Zhujiang Natural Gas Co., Ltd. issued a notice stating that due to the significant reduction in upstream pipeline natural gas volume, the pipeline gas volume received at this stage is not enough to cover the current gas consumption of various gas consuming enterprises in the Shahu New Building Materials Industrial City Park. Therefore, starting from November 1st, a limited supply guarantee measure will be implemented for the gas consumption in the park. Enterprises must reply to confirm gas consumption before noon on October 31st. During this period, the gas supply will be distributed in a limited amount based on 20% of the company's daily gas consumption in October, with the total gas volume obtained by the company from upstream as the upper limit. Enterprises must not exceed the agreed limit of gas consumption, otherwise the gas supply will be stopped and the limited gas amount will be allocated to other enterprises. If an enterprise needs additional gas, it must apply in writing. This measure will be lifted with further notice when the upstream gas supply tension eases.
In other words, before the gas supply tension eases, the gas consumption of ceramic enterprises in Enping production area in November is only about 20% of that in October. The reduction of natural gas available for production by ceramic enterprises may intensify the shutdown of production lines and production reduction in production areas.
Natural gas prices fall into negative numbers
European ceramic companies are in crisis of kiln shutdown
According to a CCTV Finance report on October 27, due to sanctions against Russia, European countries have been frantically purchasing natural gas around the world since the summer to prepare for the coming winter. However, recently, with the large-scale influx of LNG tankers into European ports, tankers have been queued up and unable to unload, and the European energy market has experienced oversupply. This caused the spot price of natural gas in Europe to fall into negative territory at the beginning of this week, to -15.78 euros per megawatt hour, the lowest price ever.
Data show that the current average natural gas reserves in EU countries are close to 94% of capacity. However, despite the short-term decline in European natural gas prices, long-term natural gas futures prices have changed less recently and are still higher thanAt €100 per MWh, this is 126% higher than the same period last year. This means that European households will still face heating difficulties and high energy bills this winter.
As the energy crisis in Europe continues to intensify, ceramic companies in various European countries have fallen into operating difficulties one after another. Relevant media reported that at the end of September, nine ceramic companies in Spain's Castellon ceramic production area had applied for ERTE due to the inability to transfer continued high production costs, and a total of 1,152 workers were forced to temporarily lose their jobs. Pamesa Group, Europe's largest ceramic tile manufacturer, and Polish ceramic tile manufacturer Cerrad have successively announced the suspension of multiple production lines and increased the prices of some products.
Not long ago, STN Cerámica, Spain’s second largest ceramics group, announced that it would close all its kilns due to excess inventory caused by high natural gas prices and declining market demand. The shutdown, which took effect on October 26, forced nearly 1,000 workers to take voluntary leave or leave. However, according to insiders in the group, the suspension of production will be temporary, and it is initially expected to return to normal from November 2.
In addition, the crisis of energy shortage has also appeared in the Bangladesh ceramic industry. The Bangladesh Ceramics Manufacturers and Exporters Association said that more than 25 large factories in the local ceramics industry have suffered from severe natural gas shortages for more than three months. Due to disruptions in natural gas supply, ceramics companies are now unable to produce products in compliance with foreign buyers' deadlines, resulting in many order cancellations and a blow to supply in the local market.
The birth of “zero carbon ceramic tiles”
Alternative energy takes time
Natural gas is a clean and low-carbon fossil energy that plays an important role in the green and low-carbon transformation of global energy. Whether in China or other countries such as Europe, natural gas has always been the main energy application in the ceramic industry. Relevant statistics show that the natural gas utilization rate of my country's ceramic enterprises has reached 53% by the end of 2020, and it is expected that the natural gas utilization rate of national ceramic enterprises will reach more than 60% by the end of 2021.
With the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy and the highlighting of the advantages of natural gas in "energy saving and carbon reduction", the proportion of natural gas in the energy consumption structure of the ceramic industry will further increase. However, natural gas prices fluctuate greatly, especially during the winter heating season, when prices may rise exponentially. Fuel costs account for more than 30% of ceramic tile production costs. Therefore, ceramic tiles are very sensitive to fluctuations in natural gas prices, and their profits are easily affected by rising gas prices.offset. In the past two years, due to the increase in natural gas supply prices, it has become commonplace in the ceramic industry that ceramic companies in various domestic production areas have increased prices, suspended kilns, and stopped production.
Some experts pointed out that in the face of energy transformation in the context of "double carbon", ceramic production can also transform to use other alternative energy sources in addition to natural gas. Hydrogen energy, regarded as the "ultimate energy source of the 21st century", has received great attention. At present, ceramic machinery and equipment companies such as Sacmi, Sidi Bente, Modena, and Delitai have launched kiln technology that uses hydrogen energy for firing, and some ceramic companies are about to adopt it. For example, the Infinity-MHT hydrogen thermal equipment developed by Modena has been adopted by India's Simpolo Ceramics Company to create India's first "hydrogen-ready" high-end ceramic tile production line. The production line is scheduled to be put into use in the first quarter of 2023. Production includes Full range of high-end rock slab products from 600×1200mm to 1200×3200mm.
In China, "zero-carbon ceramic tiles" also produced using new green energy will be born in Oceano. It is understood that the zero-carbon combustion technology transformation of the roller kiln at the Central Research Institute of Oceano Sanshui Base is in full swing. After the transformation, the kiln will be upgraded from the original natural gas combustion to a low-carbon or even zero-carbon kiln with "pure ammonia combustion, ammonia-natural gas mixed combustion and ammonia-hydrogen mixed combustion zero-carbon combustion", which is also a ceramic The industry's first truly "zero-carbon" combustion kiln.
Although the ceramic industry is constantly experimenting with natural gas alternative energy sources such as hydrogen energy and combined heat and power generation, some experts point out that before 2030, the available hydrogen energy will not be able to meet the needs of large-scale applications in the industry, and it is far from being truly invested in industrial production. The use of hydrogen energy technology is still far away.
