Low-end positioning Linyi tiles production and sales booming

At the beginning of this year, King Kong's glazes, antique bricks, and marble tiles have received a high degree of attention from the industry. Most companies have devoted their energy and capital to the research and development of these products. However, they have been consistently rated by the industry as low-profit, transparent, and transparent. What are the low-threshold tiles and their year-round survival and R&D direction? According to industry insiders, there has been no major "movements" in the production areas of Guangdong, just like a pool of "deadwater." What is the market situation of tiles? Is it already dead? Still quietly seeking new breakthroughs? Recently, this reporter visited several companies and many production areas to learn about the relevant issues.

Guangdong Province

The surface is calm and quiet, actually "underflowing"

Ceramic tiles have been labelled with “low threshold”, “low profit”, and “low innovation capability”, and the industry’s attention has been low. In particular, enterprises with multi-product strategy development only use tiles as supplementary products. Its role as a "chicken rib" does not account for much of the company's overall sales.

However, in the eyes of many companies that use ceramic tiles as the main product, tiles still occupy a place in the ceramic tile category and cannot be shaken.

Many respondents believe that there is still vitality in the tiles, because the tiles are widely used in kitchens and bathrooms because of their perfect adhesion to cement. Even if it is affected by the wall climbing, the market share of tiles is gradually divided by floor tiles, but it is not enough to shake its strong advantage on the wall.

“Frankly speaking, our company was greatly affected by market shocks in 2015, and was particularly affected by the bricks on the floor tiles. However, I always think that tiles are still an irreplaceable product,” said a person in charge of a tile company. Although their companies have been greatly affected, they will continue to develop new ceramic products and continue to update and break through.

Huo Weihong, general manager of Weidengbao Ceramics, also stated that the floor tiles have already been implemented on the wall. However, there are still large potential risks on the walls of the floor tiles. Due to the heavy weight of the floor tiles and the low water absorption rate, the walls are prone to appear. Fall off.

In order to reduce the shedding, some companies have used dry-hanging technology. As a result, construction has become cumbersome and costs have increased. Some companies have also suggested using tile adhesives, but tile adhesives have certain odors and costs are high. Therefore, at this stage, tiles are the best products to be applied to walls, and cost-effectiveness is more suitable for use in third-tier cities, counties and rural markets.

Insiders believe that there has been no new breakthrough in ceramic tiles, only to stay in the traditional texture updates. Yao Zhenyu, export manager of Quanping Ceramics Co., Ltd. of Enping City, Guangdong, said that the process of ceramic tiles has been relatively mature, and the average enterprise has made more fuss on the color of tiles. Due to the strong imitation of the industry, even if the company develops new designs, it will not be advertised in the industry with great fanfare, and it will avoid the early arrival of copying and price wars by other companies.

DeTian ceramics related responsible person said that this year, Detian ceramics for foreign markets for the development of ceramic tile color, more colorful and rich colors, more bold texture. In addition, in order to cater to the needs of new-born consumers and the trend of modern simplicity, black-and-white tone has become the flagship product of its exports.

Weidengbao Ceramics will launch glazed tiles at the onset of the 2016 Taobao Fair, and the marble tiles are still in the commissioning stage, hoping to catch up with the Taobo Fair. “The commissioning has been carried out years ago, but the effect is not satisfactory. To truly realize the effect of marble tiles, there are still some difficulties at this stage. However, we are also working hard to improve the realistic effect of ceramic tile marble. The perfect match with the overall space of the marble floor tiles.” Huo said that they are not only developing marble tiles, but also kiln tiles are being developed. However, due to the high technical difficulty of kiln, it is necessary to produce the ideal kiln effect. time.

North China production area

Sharp increase in production capacity, companies are pessimistic

According to the reporter's visit, the tile market in Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei has achieved satisfactory results since the beginning of the year. Except for one or two companies, most companies can almost balance their production and sales, and they are in the multi-product strategic development enterprise. The sales volume of ceramic tiles is also higher.

In addition, the local ceramic tile prices did not change much, mainly in the domestic market, and almost no sales to foreign markets.

In the update of product designs, Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei mainly conduct research and development based on the trends in Guangdong and Zibo. It is understood that full-glazed tiles and marble tiles are favored in the local market, and another production focus is to peel off the glaze. Tiles, some companies have products sold to the terminal market. Some companies have made breakthroughs in the traditional 300×600mm, 400×800mm and other traditional specifications, such as the development of 300×900mm, 500×1000mm large-scale products.

In order to increase their development capabilities, some companies hire designers to research and develop ceramic tiles. At the same time, they also increase the whiteness of ceramic blanks and increase new ink-jet machines and presses to increase product quality and price. Gradually take the brand line,

However, some local companies believe that companies in Henan, Hebei, and Shanxi provinces are more difficult to take the brand development route because local production lines are mainly large kilns, with daily production capacities of more than 30,000, and some even Up to 55,000, it is difficult to develop high-end market with huge production capacity and a relatively single channel. Only the quantity and wholesale can ensure that inventory is digested.

Talking about this year's market conditions, most companies are pessimistic. Although the market conditions in the new year are relatively satisfactory, it is still difficult to digest last year's inventory.

Coupled with increased production capacity and product homogeneity, market competition will become increasingly fierce. It is understood that many companies in Hebei, Henan, and Shanxi have continuously increased the production of ceramic tiles in 2014. This is also an outbreak of the development of local tiles. From the year of 2014 to 2015, the whole Hebei Province and Henan Province In Shanxi, the daily increase in tile production capacity is over 1 million square meters. With such a sharp increase in production capacity and the impact of other production areas, local companies will only continue to improve product quality, open up channels, and increase research and development capabilities in order to keep off the rapids. Survive in the market.

Linfen producing areas

Abnormal hot sales, continue to add new tiles production line

In 2015, sales of tiles in most production areas declined, but the market for tiles in Linyi, Shandong Province, had a different landscape. It was unusually hot, and there was still a period of shortage in demand. This was the case for all producing areas. A special case. It is reported that even in multi-item enterprises, the proportion of sales of ceramic tiles is as high as 50%, which indicates that sales volume is not generally optimistic.

Local companies believe that the important factor that leads to this is that they have a significant relationship with Linyi’s product prices. Linyi is a logistics capital. The surrounding 300-400 km of logistics must be transported through Linyi. Not only trucking but also shipping, the logistics cost is lower than that of other production areas. Therefore, the production area in Linfen has more products than the surrounding production areas. Prices are low and sales are naturally hot. Coupled with the popularity of inkjet technology, the color of ceramic tiles is becoming more and more abundant, and the distance from Zibo's products is also getting closer.

The reporters learned that Linfen's ceramic tiles are mainly based on the domestic market, and foreign markets account for less than 20%. However, in recent years, with the increasingly fierce competition in the domestic market, Linyi companies have continuously increased their export intensity, with low prices. The advantage of the export in foreign markets is gradually increasing.

When Zibo was squeezed by the market in the surrounding production areas, Linyi continued to add new tiles production lines this year when it started to change the tile production line to a full-glazed, microcrystalline stone and other floor tile production line. At the same time, in the case of price cuts by companies in other producing areas, Linyi has risen by one cent because of the shortage of supply. During the visit, the reporter found that most of the tile factories in Linyi were filled with trucks waiting for loading. Therefore, many companies expect this year's sales of ceramic tiles will be more optimistic.

Under this enthusiasm, the confidence of local businesses has increased greatly and they have begun to invest in the research and development of ceramic tiles. Some local people expect that with the gradual change in the minds of business owners, the quality of products and the importance of color development will increase. Linyi will catch up with Zibo in 3-5 years.

Pangao Production Area

The production and sales rate is about 90%, and the price is expected to continue to be lowered this year

In 2015, the sales volume of the tile market in the Pangao production area was relatively stable, but the price competition was fierce. Since the beginning of spring, the production and sales rate of ceramic tiles has remained at around 90%, while new products have been updated and upgraded in their designs, and there have been relatively few technological innovations.

Since the end of 2015, some companies represented by Roosevelt Ceramics have applied full-glazed production techniques to the tile field, such as the peeling of glazed marble tiles, flat glazed tiles and so on. At present, some ceramic tile manufacturers have begun to use the soft-rolling process.

With the gradual application of products such as polished tiles, full-glazed glazes, and microcrystalline stones on the walls, the market share of some ceramic tiles has been divided. In order to rob the market, the current price of tiles continues to decline.

According to the analysis of some industry insiders in the production areas, the road to innovation in ceramic tiles will become increasingly difficult, and companies will find it difficult to find new directions. However, the tile's high water absorption rate cannot be replaced by floor tiles. Moreover, the product price is relatively low compared to tiles. Therefore, the market for tiles still exists.

It is expected that the tile market in this year's Pangao production area will be increasingly fierce, and prices will be lowered. This is mainly due to the fact that other areas in Jiangxi have successively added some super-capacity tile production lines this year, which will inevitably have a great impact on the market and prices.