Industry Boom Is Still Improving. Advantages Of Our Chemical Fiber Industry Are Changing In The Near Future.

In the first two months of 2008, the chemical fiber industry in China was no longer in sight. Influenced by the rapid expansion of production capacity and slow start of downstream demand, the prices of chemical fiber industry chain, especially spandex and viscose, were more and more volatile.

The picture shows Yizheng chemical fiber flue gas desulphurization plant.

Zhang Yan photography

Reporters learned from the four session of the four China Chemical Fiber Industry Association recently held that due to the continuous improvement of technological progress and comprehensive competitiveness, China's chemical fiber industry has entered a new round of rising channels since 2007. It is expected that this good momentum will continue this year.

Zhao Xiangdong, vice-chairman of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, said that despite the high price of chemical fiber raw materials, the dumping of chemical fiber products and raw materials, the acceleration of RMB appreciation, the reduction of export tax rebate rate and the aggravation of international trade frictions, China's chemical fiber industry still achieved net exports for the first time last year under the positive factors such as strong demand pull, mechanism driven and localization technology promotion.

Insiders also pointed out that the economic operation and development of chemical fiber industry will still be in the rising channel this year.

First net export of chemical fiber industry

In 2007, the economic operation characteristics of China's chemical fiber industry can be summarized as basically stable operation of the market, continued rapid development of production, substantial economic growth and good quality of operation.

According to the latest statistics of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, in 2007, China's chemical fiber industry completed 23 million 890 thousand tons of chemical fiber production, an increase of 18.04% over the same period last year.

Among them, the fastest growth is viscose fiber, an increase of 27.8% over the same period, the output reached 1 million 542 thousand and 900 tons; polyester increased by 18.84% over the same period, the output reached 19 million 176 thousand and 700 tons; nylon increased 14.93%, output was 951 thousand and 200 tons; acrylic fiber production increased little, the increase was only 0.67%; while polypropylene and vinylon were negative growth.

With the rapid growth of production, the sales of chemical fiber products are good. The production and sales rates of the main products are all above 95%, and the average sales rate of the whole industry is 98.24%.

It is gratifying to note that in 2007, China's chemical fiber exports exceeded imports for the first time, and net exports of 433 thousand and 100 tons were achieved throughout the year.

Except for acrylic fiber and nylon filament, all the other varieties achieved net export.

High investment growth and structural adjustment pressure

Zhao Xiangdong said that although the chemical fiber industry achieved good results in 2007, there are still some problems, which are mainly reflected in six aspects: first, the prices of chemical fiber raw materials remain high, and the prices of individual raw materials may continue to rise; the two is that the industry's fixed asset investment is still relatively large and needs to be paid attention; three, the overall R & D investment of the industry is insufficient, and the added value of chemical fiber products is relatively low; four, the growth rate of textile and garment exports is slowing down, and then the downstream products demand of chemical fiber is reduced; five, some conventional products have excess capacity and structural contradictions are more prominent; six, the growth of some chemical fiber products exports is too fast, which may cause the rapid increase of international trade friction.

Zheng Junlin, Deputy Secretary General of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, pointed out that in 2008, before the anticipation of the slowing down of world economic growth, the chemical fiber and textile industry may face three challenges: first, the rising prices of raw materials and labor costs caused by domestic inflation have seriously affected the normal production and operation of chemical fiber export enterprises; two, the high growth of industrial investment will further exacerbate the pressure and risk of structural adjustment; three, the key to structural adjustment of chemical fiber industry lies in how to improve the effective demand of domestic and foreign consumer markets.

Some industries are facing overcapacity.

Zhao Xiangdong believes that there are four main factors that restrict the development of the chemical fiber industry in 2008.

First, China's economic growth rate is moderated moderately, and the economic growth rate of this year is expected to reach about 10%.

Second, the state's macroeconomic regulation and control efforts have been strengthened.

Tight monetary policy in 2008 will have a greater impact on the production and operation of the chemical fiber industry, which is mainly reflected in the difficulty in increasing the liquidity of enterprises and the greater possible pressure on capital turnover.

Third, industry fixed asset investment growth is fast, some industries have excess capacity pressure.

In 2007, China's chemical fiber manufacturing industry completed a total investment of 27 billion 144 million yuan, an increase of 26.9% over the same period last year.

These new investments will cause greater pressure on the operation of the market this year, and the pressure of excess capacity of some chemical fiber products is still greater.

Fourth, industry R & D investment is seriously insufficient and innovation capability is weak.

Especially in the field of high-tech fiber, energy saving and emission reduction technology, the innovation ability of domestic chemical fiber enterprises is relatively weak.

The advantages of China's chemical fiber industry remain unchanged.

The industry generally expects that the chemical fiber industry will encounter cold spell in 2008.

According to Zhao Xiangdong analysis, the operation and development of the chemical fiber industry will still be in the rising channel this year. There are still some positive factors that can support the smooth operation of the chemical fiber industrial economy.

First of all, the possibility of the global economy falling into recession is unlikely. Especially the emerging economies such as China and India still have a bright future. Especially the steady growth of China's economy will provide a good market growth for the development of the chemical fiber industry.

Second, the cumulative advantages of China's chemical fiber industry will exist for a long time.

The Chinese chemical fiber industry, which was born in the late 1990s, has adopted advanced technology and equipment and management methods at the beginning of its development, which is conducive to improving labor productivity and reducing production costs.

Third, the technological progress of the chemical fiber industry will continue to be relatively fast and the R & D investment will also increase.

In fact, more and more chemical fiber enterprises have recognized the importance of independent innovation. Many R & D investment has accounted for 2% to 3% of sales revenue, and the proportion of R & D investment of some enterprises is even more than 5%.

Fourth, the macroeconomic regulation and control means that the state affects the economic operation is maturing. The operation procedures of intermediary organizations such as trade associations are more standardized, and their ability to guide the sustainable development of the industry has been promoted rapidly.

Wang Qianjin, editor in chief of the first textile network, also believes that there has been no significant change in gross profit margin indicators reflecting the profitability of the industry, despite the fact that crude oil prices continue to hit a new high and prices of chemical fibers and downstream products have changed little or even down.

Moreover, the total profit of China's chemical fiber industry in 2007 was close to 150? Script src=>