Industry Shuffle Accelerate "Invisible Hand" Command Of Domestic Carbon Fiber Competition Pattern Change

Recently, the Shenyang intermediate people's Court of Liaoning Province declared that the bankruptcy of Shenyang Zhong Heng new material Co., Ltd. once again aroused everyone's concern about the operation of domestic carbon fiber enterprises.

In fact, last year, China's carbon fiber industry had appeared the first case of filing for bankruptcy. Zhejiang Thailand new material Limited by Share Ltd filed for bankruptcy with the local court.

There are many signs that China's carbon fiber industry has experienced 10 years of rapid growth, the survival of the fittest is highlighted, the industry began to shuffle.

The survival of the fittest is a normal market phenomenon that will appear in any industry after a certain stage of development in the market economy environment. The carbon fiber industry will not be an exception, nor can it be an exception.

This also means that the domestic carbon fiber industry, which has solved the problem of "nothing from scratch", has entered a stage of higher quality development through the struggle of the first 10 years.

The hands of the market began to eliminate inefficient capacity.

As we all know, new material technology is an important strategic emerging industry in the world, and carbon fiber is the focus of new material industry.

Especially in the field of national defense industry, carbon fiber and its composite materials have very important strategic significance.

It is precisely because of the deep understanding of the important value of carbon fiber for various countries that in the decades before China's carbon fiber industry broke through the key technology of industrialization, Japan and other developed countries imposed a strict blockade on China's equipment, technology and talents in the field of carbon fiber in 2005.

In the past 10 years since the breakthrough of CCF300 carbon fiber technology in 2005, China's carbon fiber industry has developed rapidly and solved the problem of "nothing from scratch".

A breakthrough in technology and a recognition of the importance of carbon fiber materials has led to an upsurge of investment in carbon fiber in China.

At present, the research and production of carbon fiber enterprises and institutions are widely distributed throughout the country. In Jilin, there are Jilin petrochemical and Jilin chemical fiber, and so on in Weihai, Shandong.

"Governments in many places will have preferential policies or subsidy policies for carbon fiber investment projects. The state attaches great importance to this strategic material. In addition, some business owners really have the pursuit of good carbon fiber to serve the country. Many factors overlap, which stimulates capital to enter the carbon fiber industry, which includes both state-owned capital and private capital."

An industry insider said so.

According to incomplete statistics, there are about 30 large and small carbon fiber enterprises in China.

According to relevant statistics, in 2017, China's total demand for carbon fiber was about 23487 tons, and its capacity was about 26000 tons.

From the actual output, in 2017, the output of carbon fiber in mainland China was about 7400 tons, and the carbon fiber output in China's Taiwan was about 4000 tons.

However, the operation of these dozens of enterprises is quite different.

The industry pointed out that at present, a few enterprises with 1000 tons of production lines are working normally, and several enterprises with 100 ton production lines are also producing. The number of carbon fiber enterprises with the start and output of the rest may be less than 10, and the rest will not be produced.

Recently, the Shenyang Zhong Heng new material Co., Ltd., which was declared bankrupt by the intermediate people's Court of Shenyang, belongs to an enterprise that has not started in recent years.

A carbon fiber industry insider said that Shenyang Zhong Heng had stopped production for at least 3 years.

According to public information, Shenyang Zhong Heng was founded in 2009, mainly engaged in carbon fiber precursor, carbon filament and its products, special carbon fiber and carbon fiber related products, with a registered capital of 181 million 800 thousand yuan.

As of January 31, 2018, the total assets of Shenyang Zhong Heng were 360 million yuan, the total liabilities amounted to 585 million yuan, and the owner's equity was -2.2 billion yuan, which was severely insolvent.

In fact, Shenyang Zhong Heng is not the first to apply for bankruptcy.

In 2017, Zhejiang Thailand new material Limited by Share Ltd filed for bankruptcy with the local court. The industry said it was the first case of bankruptcy filing in China's carbon fiber industry.

According to public information, Zhejiang Tae sin was founded in 2010 with a registered capital of 300 million yuan.

From 2015 to January 2017, its main revenue was 0 yuan, net profit after tax was -2259 yuan, -2675 million yuan, -608 million yuan.

Careful combing will find that in the current 10 years of carbon fiber investment boom that has lasted for about 10 years, although the enterprise management universality is faced with a huge test, it is basically in a state of "only increasing without reducing" from the total amount of the project.

At the same time, when some enterprises were involved in the carbon fiber industry, more or less of the investment people had a feeling of "breaking the monopoly and the industry for the country", so even if it was hard to insist, it would still be a kind of ideal force to support the enterprise.

However, Zhejiang Thailand and Shenyang Zhong Heng let everyone clearly realize that even the industry with feelings again can not escape the test of market competition rules.

Whether or not we can make profits, and whether we can achieve continuous profits has become the primary problem facing more and more small and medium carbon fiber enterprises in the next 5 years or even in the next 10 years.

"Low cost" is a key point to enhance the competitiveness of domestic carbon fiber, and how to achieve low cost?

How to achieve scale efficiency? First, reduce the cost of public expenditure and raw material procurement through scale, and the two is through technological innovation or disruptive innovation.

To achieve economies of scale, first of all, we must eliminate inefficient production capacity and enhance the production capacity of actual production lines.

From this point of view, it is not surprising that carbon fiber companies which have not produced for a long time are applying for bankruptcy. Such enterprises are often referred to as "zombie enterprises", and their capacity is ineffective for the entire carbon fiber industry.

Yan Jun, chief technology officer of Jiangsu Mstar Technology Ltd, said.

Staying at home and making up for a loss is a big test.

Some of the two carbon fiber enterprises that have applied for bankruptcy have their own reasons, but is it a case of loss?

From the perspective of the industrialization of domestic carbon fiber, we must realize that this is a long test of "life and death", and the whole industry is basically in a state of loss before the leading enterprises achieve profits.

However, in recent years, some enterprises have come to the end and have begun to make profits. Some enterprises are still suffering, and some enterprises are beginning to fall.

Over the past 10 years, China's carbon fiber has broken through many blockades and insisted on its own research and development process.

In the initial stage of development and in the process of tackling key problems, all kinds of internal and external factors interlace, making the survival and development of industries and enterprises face great challenges.

The first thing to face is the research and development of carbon fiber, and the process of industrialization requires huge capital investment.

Even though all regions have some financial support for carbon fiber enterprises, this is a "drop in the bucket" in the face of the huge investment of the whole enterprise.

Guang Wei is the first profitable carbon fiber enterprise in China. It has made profits since 2012 and realized the continuous profit in 2012 ~2017.

However, in the 10 years of hard tackling, Guang Wei Group has invested about 3000000000 Yuan in carbon fiber, not only investing all the profits earned from fishing rod plates, but also once in debt, and nearly 2 billion yuan in loans at most banks.

Zhang Guoliang, chairman of Zhongfu divine eagle Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd., on the day of the national science and technology worker's public speaking at Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics, talked about some difficult details of carbon fiber making.

"We explored and broke through some technologies, but the carbon fibers from the beginning were not qualified, and they could not be sold. Even if the products were cheap, no one wanted them, and they had to pay for environmental protection.

Later, the product can start selling at a low price, but at a loss, what can we do? The production line can not be retreated, so we can not stop when we know we are losing money.

Moreover, if we want to really succeed in making carbon fiber, we must explore experience, and once the production line stops, it may not be able to start, so we have been sticking to it.

We have made carbon fiber for more than ten years, lost nearly 10 years, and began to make profits in recent years.

Now, our carbon fiber quality is good, customers can accept it, T300, T700 and so on can be produced, and the kiloton production line can also be stabilized.

Someone asked me, "how did carbon fiber come out? Actually, it was just tossing and turning, and constantly changing, and finally, it was successful."

Zhang Guoliang sighed with emotion.

Jiangsu Heng Shen Limited by Share Ltd is another carbon fiber leading enterprise in China. It is listed on the new third board.

Heng Shen shares has been committed to the formation of "carbon fiber (including fabric) - intermediate products (resin and prepreg) - composite product development technology services (including design analysis, molding process and manufacturing)" through-train service industry chain mode.

But the new three board's public data show that in 2017, the revenue of Heng Shen shares was 204 million yuan, gross margin was -65.82%, net profit attributable to listed company shareholders was -3.32 billion yuan.

In 2016, its operating income was 194 million 800 thousand yuan, gross margin was -40.14%, net profit attributable to listed company shareholders was -2.27 billion yuan.

Shen Zhen, consultant of the enterprise, pointed out that the breakthrough of carbon fiber technology has the property of long-term cost, and that the industrialization of domestic carbon fiber is a long investment that requires at least 10 years to invest. It costs huge sums of money and has to endure long-term losses. This is the only long-term vision and financial enterprise group that can be competent.

So, is only China's carbon fiber enterprise like this? No,

The international carbon fiber giant has also experienced such a process of "catching up with losses".

According to insiders, the world's carbon fiber giant, Dongli, Japan, has been producing carbon fibers for more than 30 years.

From this point of view, in the continuous progress of industrialization of China's carbon fiber enterprises, enterprises participating in the process are very critical except for their technical strength, whether they have enough capital to sustain their losses.

Polarization highlights the industry to accelerate the reshuffle

On the one hand, some of the unsustainable carbon fiber enterprises applied for bankruptcy. On the other hand, the leading carbon fiber leading companies successfully entered the capital market, conquered the difficulties of new technology, and continued to expand the scale of production capacity.

In the aspect of profitability, a landmark event is that in September 1, 2017, Guang Wei complex was successfully listed on Shenzhen gem, becoming the first professional carbon fiber enterprise in China's landing capital market.

In 2017, Guang Wei complex achieved 949 million yuan in revenue, an increase of 49.87% over the same period last year, achieving a net profit of 237 million yuan, an increase of 18.99% over the same period last year.

The latest financial data show that in the first quarter of this year, Guang Wei complex achieved a revenue of 271 million yuan, an increase of 27.75% over the same period last year, and realized a net profit of 86 million 652 thousand and 400 yuan, an increase of 33.66% over the same period last year.

For the domestic carbon fiber industry, which has suffered from "long suffering" for a long time, it is undoubtedly of great significance for the successful listing of Guang Wei composite materials. This indicates that China's carbon fiber leading enterprises have the ability of continuous profitability through long-term experience, and can also rely on the capital market to seek better development in the future.

Regarding this, Xu Lianghua, director of the Institute of carbon fiber and composite materials of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and director of the National Center for carbon fiber engineering and technology research, pointed out that the realization of continuous profit has already embarked on a virtuous circle.

After the successful listing, it can reduce the financial cost and other comprehensive costs, and to a certain extent, alleviate the financial pressure brought by the continuous technological R & D investment to the enterprises.

At the same time, as a leader in civilian carbon fiber, Zhongfu Eagle also began to make profits in 2016, which is the first time in the domestic civil carbon fiber market.

"This also marks the beginning of a healthy development stage of domestic carbon fiber."

An insider commented.

Good news from leading enterprises has also been reported in terms of industrial breakthroughs in technology and scale of production capacity.

Recently, the company announced that it was approved by the Weihai national development Fiber Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the national carbon fiber engineering technology research center of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and the 863 subject of the Ministry of science and technology, "the key technology research of polyacrylonitrile carbon fiber graphitization", which was accepted by the aerospace science and Technology Research Institute and the Beijing satellite manufacturing Co., Ltd. after 3 years of tackling the problem.

The project tackled key technologies of fiber preparation, fiber characterization, fiber application and carbon fiber high temperature graphitization equipment design and manufacturing technology. The carbon fiber and its composite materials developed and produced were comparable to those imported M55J carbon fibers.

This also indicates that the domestic QM4055 (M55J grade) high strength and high modulus carbon fiber material has achieved the complete localization from process to equipment, and improved the autonomous support ability of the high strength and high modulus carbon fiber in the field of aerospace application.

In May, the company's 1000 ton T800 raw silk production line was put into operation and achieved continuous and stable operation. At the end of August last year, its single line SYT55 (T800) carbon fiber 1000 ton production line was also put into operation.

In the past decade, Zhongfu Eagle has invested about 1 billion 800 million yuan, and has built 4 sets of polymerization systems, 6 spinning production lines and 10 carbonization production lines.

The "big tow" that means higher spinning efficiency is an important development direction of domestic carbon fiber.

In this regard, some leading enterprises have also achieved breakthroughs. Jilin chemical fiber group is one of them.

Jilin chemical fiber has carbon fiber precursor production capacity of 16 thousand tons / year, especially in the production of large tow carbon fiber precursor has already formed a certain technology, scale, cost and quality advantages.

In terms of carbonization, in 2016, Jilin chemical fiber started to build 12 thousand tons tow carbon fiber carbonization project with Zhejiang Jinggong group. In February this year, the first phase 1 line 2000 tons / year carbonization production line was driven by the whole line.

It is understood that in the first quarter of this year, the sales volume of Jilin's chemical fiber 24K large tow carbon fiber precursor was 752 tons, an increase of about 5 times compared with the same period last year.

Shanghai Petrochemical also announced recently that 48K large tow carbon fiber has been successfully produced and has been through the whole process.

Compared with the large tow carbon fiber made of small tow of 1K~12K, the single bundle carbon fiber has more than 48000 roots.

It can be found that under the current competitive situation, the industrial concentration of domestic carbon fiber is gradually improving. The comprehensive competitive advantages of Guang Wei complex, Zhongfu eagle, zhonganxin, Heng Shen share, Jilin chemical fiber and Jinggong group are steadily increasing.

If the space of China's carbon fiber industrialization continues to improve, we will only think of the overall competitive situation of domestic carbon fiber enterprises under the existing technology level system. The phenomenon of polarization and survival of the fittest is gradually emerging. That is to say, domestic carbon fiber has entered a new stage of seeking high quality development level.

It is foreseeable that in the process of continuing to catch up with the world's advanced level in China's carbon fiber industry, we will continue to see this phenomenon: on the one hand, the comprehensive elements of talents, funds and policies will further concentrate on the dominant enterprises, and their overall competitive power will continue to increase. On the other hand, those enterprises that lack the strength of industrialization technology, equipment, talents, funds and other aspects can not match the development goals of enterprises, and will continue to apply for bankruptcy like Shenyang Zhong Heng and Zhejiang Tai Xian, and be eliminated by the market.

And along with

The shuffle speeds up, with the country increasing its strategic new materials.

With the support of various policies, we expect that China's carbon fiber industry, which is full of "feelings of the country", will be able to change again, and finally be able to sing the loudest "China's voice" on the international carbon fiber stage and be able to compete with the international carbon fiber power.