Since last year, energy and raw material prices have continued to rise, causing the production and operating costs of the entire ceramic industry to rise significantly. Power restrictions and production restrictions, tight coal supply, rising electricity prices and natural gas prices have even strangled the production of ceramic companies. throat.
In 2022, can the energy problems of ceramic companies be alleviated?
01
Prevent blackouts from happening again
Minimize the impact on production
From July to October last year, many ceramic production areas across the country issued power restriction orders, and more than 20 provinces including Guangxi, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Yunnan, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hunan, Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang successively started orderly use of electricity. According to the plan, industrial enterprises in many places were required to "open three times and stop four", "open two and stop five" and even "open one and stop six" to use electricity at staggered peaks. In desperation, ceramic enterprises either purchased diesel generators at high prices or stopped production for holidays. The "tragic" scene is still fresh in people's memory.
Since June this year, many places in China have ushered in the first round of high-temperature weather in summer, and provinces such as Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other provinces have successively issued high-temperature yellow warnings. At the same time, the resumption of work and production in various places is gradually accelerating, and residential and industrial electricity consumption are ushering in a peak. As a result, issues such as "power rationing" and "increased electricity prices" were once again put on the agenda, becoming a knife hanging over the heads of ceramic enterprises. Some industry insiders said that once the bad news of "power cuts" reappears, a large number of ceramic companies may be "unable to bear it."
Meng Gang, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference held on May 31 that since the beginning of this year, due to the impact of the international situation, supply and demand relations, etc., energy resources have been tight in volume and prices high, and Zhejiang is faced with ensuring energy supply and stable prices. Under great pressure, it is expected that the maximum power shortage during the summer peak will reach 6.5 million to 7.5 million kilowatts. Henan Electric Power Company predicts that the power security situation in Henan Province will remain severe and complex during the peak summer season, and the overall power supply will remain in a tight balance. It is estimated that the maximum load of Henan Power Grid in 2022 will be 75 million kilowatts, an increase of 7.9%, of whichThe highest load growth in Zhumadian and Xinyang is expected to exceed 20%. The China Electricity Council predicts that the electricity consumption of the whole society will increase by 5% to 6% year-on-year in 2022.
Thankfully, the State Council executive meeting held in May required: Ensure energy supply and never allow power outages. Faced with the complex and severe domestic and international energy supply situation, relevant departments and enterprises must improve their political stance, make every effort to ensure power supply, and prevent further blackouts. Judging from the 2022 orderly power consumption plans released by Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hebei, Guizhou and other places, they have basically clarified the order of ensuring safety as the primary premise, first shifting peaks, then avoiding peaks, then limiting power, and finally closing the grid. , Reasonably arrange the orderly use of electricity, ensure safe and orderly use of electricity, and achieve the relevant principles of minimizing the impact on production by ensuring that power rationing does not open the power grid, power rationing does not limit civilian use, and minimizes the impact on production.
02
Coal price regulation and supervision policy released
Accelerate the elimination of high-energy-consuming ceramic production lines
Coal prices continued to rise in 2021, with an almost crazy rise in September and October. Thermal coal and coking coal prices continued to hit record highs, then fell rapidly under strong policy control, and finally gradually stabilized at the end of November. This magnificent "coal boom" market situation has never happened before in history, and it has left a very deep impression on all walks of life. As the "ballast stone" to ensure energy supply, the stability of coal prices is of great significance to power supply.
In the past month, the National Development and Reform Commission has continuously spoken out and requested all localities to increase supervision and implementation. So far, it has issued a series of nine interpretations on coal price regulation and supervision policies. On June 2, the National Development and Reform Commission once again clarified the specific manifestations of price gouging by operators in the coal field, including that coal production and distribution companies are not allowed to spread information that may push up coal price expectations through public quotations that exceed reasonable ranges.
In the context of "dual carbon, dual control", on the one hand, the coal industry is accelerating the implementation of coal price control and regulatory policies, on the other hand, the ceramic industry is accelerating the comprehensive "coal-to-gas" work and phasing out high-energy-consuming production lines . It is understood thatAt present, in addition to Jiangxi and Neihuang production areas that adopt centralized gas production, ceramic enterprises in Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Sichuan, Liaoning and other production areas have completed clean energy transformation. Guangxi, Henan and other places have also proposed comprehensive "coal-to-gas" policies.
Recently, the "Guangxi 2022 Air Pollution Prevention and Control Implementation Plan" issued by the Department of Ecology and Environment of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region mentioned that the ceramic industry must continue to promote comprehensive control of air pollution in industrial furnaces and accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity and substandard industrial furnaces. Promote clean and low-carbon fuel substitution. It is reported that the Guangxi production area has made it clear that it will fully complete the "coal-to-gas" transformation by the end of 2025, eliminate production lines that have not been upgraded, and prohibit new construction, renovation and expansion of building sanitary ceramics projects that do not use piped gas.
03
Natural gas prices continue to rise
Five leading ceramic companies collectively increased prices
Major ceramic production areas across the country are promoting the "coal-to-gas" transition, which has further boosted the growth of national natural gas consumption. According to the "China Natural Gas Development Report (2021)" released by the National Energy Administration, compared with the natural gas consumption base in 2019, the average annual growth rate in 2020 and 2021 is 9% to 10%, which is within a reasonable range of medium-to-high-speed growth. Among them, the industrial Fuel increment mainly comes from key industries such as ceramics and glass.
Due to the combined effects of multiple factors such as international conflicts, the epidemic, and surge in natural gas demand, the natural gas market has shown an unprecedented severe trend of "not slow in the off-season". Not only that, spot freight rates for liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers have hit a new high this year in recent times, with traders competing to raise freight rates to meet growing global demand. According to relevant persons in charge of shipbrokers and LNG consulting companies, the spot freight rate for transporting 160,000 m³ of LNG in the Atlantic basin reaches US$100,000/day, and in Asia or east of Suez it is US$85,000/day.
The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in late May, the average price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the circulation field was 7148.6 yuan/ton, which is equivalent to about 5.11 yuan/m³, which is still high. Some media reports stated that currently Guangdong TaoThe price of gas used by enterprises has increased by about 60% compared with the same period last year; an employee of a ceramics company in Foshan revealed, "The highest gas price this year was about three times that of last year. It is really difficult for enterprises." It is reported that the average gas price of the ceramics industry The cost accounts for more than 20% of the company's production costs.
Ceramic companies cannot withstand the pressure of soaring costs, and raising product prices is an inevitable result. Starting from June, ceramic companies such as Mona Lisa, Marco Polo, New Pearl, Dongpeng, and Hongyu have all made price adjustments on some products, with price increases ranging from 3% to 10%. Price increase documents released by these ceramic companies show that the price increase is mainly due to the sharp increase in the cost of natural gas, coal and raw materials.
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Obviously, the ceramic industry, which is deeply affected by dual energy consumption control, still needs to face a new round of tests in 2022. The rational and optimized use of energy has become a required course for ceramic enterprises. At present, upstream equipment manufacturers and ceramic enterprises in the ceramic industry are actively seeking solutions for multi-dimensional green production and emission and carbon reduction.
In terms of photovoltaic power generation, the 35 kV Guangxi Xiejin Building Materials Technology Co., Ltd. photovoltaic power station in Teng County, Guangxi was successfully connected to the grid a few days ago. The annual power generation can reach 7.13 million kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to saving 2,245 tons of standard coal; In terms of energy efficiency optimization of industrial equipment, Modena recently announced that it has successfully reached the peak energy consumption of 0.97 (m3/m2)...
From June 29th to July 2nd, the 2022 Guangzhou Ceramics Industry Exhibition will be held in Area A of the Guangzhou Canton Fair Complex. At that time, more equipment and technologies that save energy, increase efficiency, and reduce emissions and carbon will be publicly unveiled. Ceramic enterprises provide support for green production.
