Polished tiles were abandoned by manufacturers and dealers because of their single color and meager profits. "The trend is over"; porcelain tiles entered the "darkest" moment due to the emergence of medium boards; exterior wall tiles were affected by national policies and the market. The shock is "going down day by day"...
But it is hard to imagine that the situation of antique bricks is even more difficult!
According to "Ceramic Information" "Ceramic Industry Long March" survey statistics from the six major production areas of Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Liaoning, and Hubei, the number of antique brick production lines in the six provinces decreased by 137 in the three years from 2017 to 2020. The decline reached 42.7%, and the shrinkage once exceeded that of ceramic tiles and exterior wall tiles.
A group of once-excellent antique brick companies have quietly withdrawn from the industry stage, a large number of antique brick production lines have been converted or stopped, terminal antique brick stores have shrunk in large areas, manufacturers' selling prices and profits have continued to fall, and head-to-head price wars have intensified.
Fujian Jiangxi Shandong Hunan Liaoning Hubei
Antique brick lines in the six major production areas dropped sharply by 42.7%
Survey data shows that compared with the peak period in 2017, there will be a decrease of 72 antique brick production lines in Fujian, 27 antique brick production lines in Jiangxi, 17 antique brick production lines in Shandong, 9 antique brick production lines in Hunan, and 9 antique brick production lines in Liaoning compared with the peak period in 2017. The number of brick production lines decreased by 5, and the number of Hubei antique brick production lines decreased by 7... The antique brick production lines in the six major production areas all shrank by more than 30%, with the average decline reaching 42.7%.
In terms of production capacity, compared with 2017, Fujian's antique bricks evaporated 180 million square meters of annual production capacity, Jiangxi's antique bricks evaporated 11,000 square meters of annual production capacity, and the six major antique brick production areas of Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Liaoning, and Hubei evaporated a total of The annual production capacity is 427 million square meters, a decrease of 36.9%.
In the two major production areas of Guangdong and Sichuan (the relevant data of the "Long March of the Ceramic Industry" is under investigation and statistics), the production lines and production capacity of antique bricks have also shrunk significantly. There were 31 antique brick production lines in Sichuan in 2017, but by 2020 it is expected that only about 16 will be left, with a shrinkage rate of about 50%. A number of professional antique brick production line companies such as Huatian, Mingzhu, and Weini were among the best in Sichuan. , have withdrawn from the industry stage one after another due to various reasons.
A salesperson from a ceramics factory in Sichuan said that the sales of antique bricks in the rural market have shrunk significantly in recent years, especially in the township market.It dropped very hard. "In the past two years, the sales volume of antique bricks in the area I was responsible for was at least 300,000 yuan per month, but now the monthly sales volume is less than 100,000 yuan."
In the Guangdong production area, although there is no detailed data to prove the shrinkage of antique brick production lines in recent years, according to information disclosed by many antique brick companies, the situation is not optimistic either. Pan Bingran, general manager of Lanpo Ceramics, said: "Judging from feedback from retail and traditional channels, the antique tile market must be shrinking, especially the high-end retail market. My preliminary estimate is that it has shrunk by about 80%, which is almost a devastating shrinkage."
A noteworthy detail is that there are fewer and fewer professional antique brick companies in Guangdong. "A group of ceramic companies that once positioned high-end antique bricks have disappeared as they have done so, or their product systems have gradually adjusted to large, comprehensive and diversified development. Among them, there are many huge adjustments and changes made by leading ceramic companies with antique bricks." Guangdong The relevant person in charge of a well-known brand told "Ceramic Information" that three years ago, his company produced and sold 100% of antique bricks, but now antique bricks only account for 30% of the company's product system.
Informed sources revealed that the most typical case of shrinking antique brick market capacity is that many ceramic companies in Guangdong that are professional and focus on the production of antique bricks have gradually evolved into large, comprehensive and full-category development. The person in charge of a large ceramics company in Foshan Huaxia Ceramics City admitted: "At its peak, antique tiles accounted for more than 50% of our company's sales, but now it is less than 10%. Instead, the proportion of marble tiles is increasing year by year."
However, some Guangdong ceramic companies said that although the sales of high-, medium- and low-end antique bricks in the retail market are all showing a shrinking trend, the sales of antique bricks for engineering channels and hardcover centralized procurement have not been affected, but will increase in 2020. The OEM market has shown a certain degree of enthusiasm and prosperity in 2018.
Some 600mm antique bricks sell for 15 yuan/piece
Some ceramic factories are selling for more than 4 yuan at a super low price
"Ceramic Information" visited Hubei, Fujian, Liaoning, Guizhou, Jiangxi and other production areas and learned that the inventory of 600×600mm antique bricks in some ceramics factories is already at an alarming high level, and the inventory of a small kiln in some ceramics factories is approaching 70 In an environment of significantly weakened demand, the ex-factory price of 10,000 square meters has only remained at around 6 yuan. The promotional price of individual companies has dropped to nearly 5 yuan, and some companies even offer ultra-low prices of more than 4 yuan below the cost price. Great sale.
However, despite the vicious low-price competition, the price of high-end porcelain antique tiles with a size of 600×600mm from outstanding manufacturers remains stable at a high price of 15 yuan/piece.
According to the "Ceramic Information" "Ceramic Industry Long March" survey, due to high inventory pressure and meager profit margins, there are still a large number of ceramic companies planning to convert some of their antique brick production lines into thick bricks (floor paving stones), Western-style bricks, etc. Tile and other products, this also means that the antique brick production line and production capacity will further shrink.
“In addition to the continued downturn in the terminal market, the reason for the sharp decline in antique brick production capacity is the ‘coal-to-gas’ switch. After the cost has risen sharply, the profit margins of enterprises have been repeatedly compressed.” There are ceramic enterprises in Fujian and Liaoning According to "Ceramic Information", selling prices are falling rapidly and costs are rising rapidly. There is no profit margin for reproducing antique bricks, forcing companies to switch to other high value-added categories.
Some industry analysts believe that the decline of antique bricks is related to the rapid changes in the general economic environment and consumption patterns. Terminals have increasingly higher requirements for product quality and details, and many antique brick companies have not established a sales system suitable for them. Channels and product tonality can easily lead to the proliferation of products, falling prices and overcapacity.
“Antique tiles are a cultural product, but many manufacturers sell antique tiles using the operating model of glazed tiles. With large kilns and large production capacity, the antique tiles are made like diamonds. "High street goods."
The fall after the climax!
Has the development of antique bricks entered a bottleneck period?
Since 2011, antique brick production lines and production capacity have been in a state of rapid expansion, reaching a historical peak in 2017. According to the "Ceramic Information" "Ceramic Industry Long March" survey data, in 2017, a total of 2,985 ceramic tile production lines were built across the country, and antique tiles ranked first in the category with 625 lines, accounting for 20.1%.
In 2017, under the appearance and temptation of the prosperous market, antique bricks developed strongly and bloomed everywhere overnight. There were even some companies that spent tens of millions of yuan to convert porcelain tile production lines into antique bricks. In a short period of time, the production capacity of antique bricks has more than doubled.
“At that time, the reason that attracted a large number of ceramic companies to switch to producing antique bricks was that the price of diamonds had been falling, the market promotion of imperial jade products was unsatisfactory, and prices were difficult to boost, which stimulated many companies to target antique bricks.” A Shandong reporter An industry insider recalled that the antique brick market was booming in 2017. Whether it was domestic or export sales, as long as there were bricks, there was no need to worry about selling them, and the prices were also rising.
“At that time, almost every day I could hear that companies were switching to imitation products.News about ancient bricks. "A sales manager of a ceramics company in Fujian also recalled to "Ceramic Information" that in 2017, dozens of production lines in Fujian production areas were converted to produce antique tiles. In Quanzhou alone, there were more than 60 companies producing antique tiles.
But the good times did not last long. After half a year of madness, the sales of antique bricks began to decline in 2018. Companies that produce antique bricks began to have a large inventory backlog and fell into vicious competition of homogeneity and same price. middle.
In the opinion of many industry insiders, one of the reasons for the sharp shrinkage of antique brick production capacity is that the production capacity of antique bricks expanded too much around 2017, which caused a serious overcapacity of antique bricks in a short period of time and far exceeded the market demand. In terms of volume, the current situation is exactly "a fall after the climax."
In addition, since modern antique bricks, the development of antique bricks has entered a bottleneck period, and product innovation has been lackluster. In the past three years, almost no new products or new technologies have emerged. At major exhibitions, compared to the ubiquitous glazed tiles and marble tiles, antique tiles are obviously much duller. Not only are there few exhibitors, but there is also a clear lack of innovation in designs and colors, which are almost a continuation of the designs and colors of the past few years. This is also an important reason why antique bricks are declining day by day.
There are also modern antique bricks that were once "explosion". Looking back now, they may just be the self-indulgence of the ceramic industry. Nowadays, after the climax, there are only a few manufacturers that are still fully promoting modern antique bricks.
“In 2017, modern antique tiles were very popular. At that time, the entire industry was advocating modern antique tiles, thinking that it was the general trend in the future. However, in fact, only a few brands succeeded in seizing the ‘window’. Many brands were in modern antique tiles. "I lost all my money on bricks." Industry insiders said that although the ceramic industry has gone all out to promote "modern antique bricks," in fact, this trend has not spread at the end, and sales are very limited.
Some industry insiders have also analyzed that the shrinkage of antique tiles is closely related to the consumer side. Unlike polished tiles and glazed tiles, antique tiles are a personalized product with a very limited audience. In the face of overcapacity and homogeneous competition, polished tiles and glazed tiles can obviously stimulate sales through price reductions. However, even if the price of antique tiles is significantly reduced, it is difficult to stimulate sales. Even if some designs and colors are given away, no one will want them.
A Shanxi ceramics factory’s inventory of antique bricks was auctioned. The 75×300mm size was less than 10 cents per piece, but it still encountered many failed auctions.
What do you think is the reason for the "halved" shrinkage of antique brick production lines and production capacity? it will usher inA development peak? Welcome to leave a message at the end of the article for discussion.
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
