Unlike last year, when production and sales were booming, this year's slate market seems too "flat". Not only has the market popularity dropped again and again, but sales have also dropped significantly. The person in charge of a small slate manufacturer in Guangdong revealed to reporters, "This year's slate market is off-season at the beginning of the year. Affected by the epidemic and rising natural gas prices, some slate production lines have not even opened their kilns or have stopped running every day."< /p>
Currently, the slate market is experiencing price wars, lack of standards and the rapid development of online e-commerce.
Production costs are rising, and the price of small rock slabs is falling instead of rising
Since the beginning of the year, affected by factors such as rising prices of natural gas and raw materials, the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war, the production costs of ceramic companies have continued to rise, prices have continued to rise, and the market for the entire building ceramics industry has been very sluggish. This phenomenon is even more pronounced in the slate market.
The reporter learned during the visit that the market for slate slabs is very flat this year, with sales showing a clear downward trend compared with last year. The person in charge of the aforementioned slate manufacturer said, "Although the price of slate dropped one price a day last year, the sales volume was not bad, but this year the slate market is obviously not optimistic." Investigating the reason, he believes that it is not only the increase in natural gas prices that has caused Costs have increased and the market has shown decline due to the impact of the epidemic and international wars. At present, slate is still in a red ocean competition of price wars. He also revealed that due to rising production costs such as natural gas, the price of large-sized slate has increased to a certain extent this year. However, the price of small-sized furniture slate has fallen instead of rising. This is based on the price increase and decrease that had bottomed out last year.
It is reported that the fundamental reason why the price of small rock slabs cannot rise is that the current gas prices for ceramic companies in various production areas across the country are uneven, and the gas costs for ceramic companies in Guangdong are significantly higher. The price of natural gas in Guangdong has fluctuated greatly, with the average price exceeding 6 yuan/m³. Compared with last year, the price has doubled. For 900×1800mm rock slabs, the cost of each piece has increased by at least ten yuan. Many other production areas still burn coal or provide centralized gas supply. Although their gas prices have increased slightly, they have basically remained at 2-3 yuan/m³. “Because the production cost of slate in production areas outside Guangdong is not high, the price of slate has been driven down. In addition, the slate market itself has no brand awareness. Guangdong companies with higher costs do not dare to increase prices, and even lower prices in order to compete. ”
Recently, due to cost pressure, slate companies such as Quansheng, Xinyipai, Jiangjun, Shenghua Building Ceramics in Guangdong production areas have successively announcedWhen adjusting product prices, we basically increase the price of large-sized rock slabs, with the price increase ranging from 3-6 yuan/㎡.
Low brand awareness and confusing prices of rock slabs are due to lack of standards< /span>
At present, the slate market has weak brand awareness and chaotic prices. On the one hand, it is due to the imbalance of production costs in various slate production areas across the country, which has intensified the price war in the slate market. On the other hand, it is due to the lack of standards in the slate industry. .
Unlike ceramic tiles, there are no specific national product standards for rock slabs. In the industry, a considerable number of people classify slate in the category of ceramic tiles, thinking that slate is just a better quality tile. This has resulted in the uneven quality of rock slabs on the market, with many businesses selling them as ordinary ceramic tiles and large slabs pretending to be rock slabs. There are no standards for slate, so customers only look at price and benefits. In order to gain a price advantage in the market competition, some rock slab manufacturers will gradually lower their product standards. The whiteness of the green body will be reduced from 60° to 50° or 40°, and the water absorption rate will be changed from low to high... There is no standard in the rock slab industry. Non-standardization will lead to market chaos, and eventually bad money will easily drive out good money.
From the appearance of the product, there is really not much difference between large slabs and rock slabs. The main difference lies in the shading, whiteness (white slab) and thickness of the slab. The shading of the slab is cloth grain and finer. , higher whiteness and thinner thickness (mainly 9mm). However, as a decorative panel that can be applied cross-border to the field of furniture, slate also puts forward certain requirements for water absorption, damage strength, and machinability. According to the "Ceramic Slate" (T/CBCSA 40-2021) association standard compiled by the China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association last year, the water absorption rate of the slate: the average value for home countertops is ≤0.1%, and the other average value is ≤0.2. It is more stringent than the standards for ceramic tiles in terms of important indicators such as damage strength and modulus of rupture, and it also puts forward clear requirements for machinability; it also sets requirements for the antibacterial performance, lead and cadmium migration amounts, and radioactive nuclear limits of home countertops. There are clear regulations.
It is true that the introduction of group standards for slate products has provided reference standards for the ceramic industry and ceramic/slate production companies, but group standards cannot be compared to national standards.Such standards can directly require production companies to refer to them and serve as standards for quality inspections. Therefore, the current stone slab industry urgently needs national standards to regulate the industry order. It is worth mentioning that on December 31, 2021, the National Standardization Administration Committee issued the fourth batch of recommended national standards plans for 2021 and related standards foreign language version plans. Among them, the national standard for "Ceramic Slate" will be drafted by units such as China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association and Xianyang Ceramics Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. This means that the slate industry may usher in the birth of the national standard "Ceramic Slate" in the near future.
The processing factory converted to slate, and the e-commerce market developed rapidly< /span>
Since 2018, slate has gradually become popular in the home building materials market. With the expansion of its home application scenarios, the market demand for slate has also been increasing year by year. There is no doubt that slate is a trending product in the future home market, especially as a home decorative panel. It is understood that due to the rising market demand for slates, the number of slate processing plants and slate furniture factories has increased sharply from the end of 2020 to the first half of 2021. At the same time, more and more stone and glass processing plants have expanded the deep processing of slates. Industry insiders revealed that in addition to high-end stone, slate has basically "replaced" ordinary stone. Many stone processing plants such as Yunfu in Guangdong and Shuitou in Fujian have switched to slate processing.
Most of the panels used for home decoration are small rock slabs, with specifications below 900×2000mm. Small rock slabs are more suitable for the processing and application of furniture and sanitary ware countertops due to their performance advantages such as anti-fouling, wear resistance, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and antibacterial properties. Compared with ordinary stone, they are more cost-effective. In addition, small rock slabs have small specifications, low production investment, fast conversion, relatively low processing and supporting transportation costs, and more obvious overall cost and benefit advantages. Therefore, whether it is a slate processing factory or a furniture factory, their number is increasing year by year.
In addition, the online e-commerce market for slate furniture has developed rapidly. Some industry media have calculated the sales data of the slate dining table, the most popular slate furniture on the e-commerce platform. In 2021, the market sales of slate dining tables on Taobao platform will be approximately 5.692 billion yuan, accounting for about 24% of the total sales of dining tables. ; Pinduoduo’s slate dining table sales were 3.765 billion yuan. Statistics show that combined with other e-commerce platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, the total sales of China's slate dining table online e-commerce market are estimated to exceed 14.1 billion. The online growth rate is significantly higher than that of the industry.
The analysisData also shows that slate furniture has become one of the fastest growing categories in the furniture industry since the epidemic. At present, the annual sales volume of slate furniture is about 17 million pieces, the market size is 25.5 billion yuan, and the annual penetration rate is about 21.25%. In five years' time, it is expected that slate furniture will account for more than 35% of the overall furniture penetration rate, and the market size will reach 42 billion yuan.
