Chinese Stone "Happy Valley" Breaks Out

In the past decade, the Chinese stone industry has developed rapidly. According to the National Association of Industry and Commerce Stone Industry Chamber of Commerce, China’s stone has reached the top in the world in raw material production, processing capacity and foreign trade export. At present, there are more than 40,000 stone companies in the country, and the stone processing capacity has exceeded 200 million m2/year. According to incomplete statistics, the main business income of domestic stone companies above designated size rose from 16.8 billion yuan in 2000 to about 150 billion yuan in 2008. In the stone industry, the production capacity and sales revenue of stone enterprises below the scale are almost 1:1, and it is speculated that the total sales volume of the domestic stone industry reaches 300 billion yuan or more.

On the one hand, China's stone consumer market is unprecedentedly huge. On the other hand, the Chinese-made stone brand has never been established. The cruel reality of the low secondary price of domestic stone material directly led to the unprecedented embarrassment of Chinese stone in the international market competition.

"Why does domestic marble not sell at a good price? It's not a good thing, but it doesn't work well." On February 15, Tan Jinhua, secretary-general of the Chinese Stone Association, said.

å°´å°¬ Survival At present, Iranian Shahana costs 1,200-1,800 yuan per square meter. *** Spanish beige prices are 900-1200 yuan per square meter, while domestic marble is only 100-800 yuan per square meter. Imported marble is still in short supply.

“In fact, most stone companies’ family history depends on exports, importing block materials from abroad, and then processing and re-exporting or a part of domestic sales. Many imported stone products have unequal prices and quality, made of high-quality marble, The price is lower than foreign ones." Tan Jinhua said.

Most of the stone companies in China are small in scale and have low levels of process technology and equipment. They still use a large number of backward processing machines with low production efficiency and quality that are difficult to guarantee. The traditionally backward small workshop management model relies on “eating resources” to survive. universal.

Zou Chuansheng, president of the China Stone Association, pointed out that the modern stone industry should be mechanized and intelligent in mining and stone processing, standardized in stone products, and resource-saving. "On the whole, China's stone industry is still far from this goal."

From January to November 2010, the import volume of marble and granite blocks in China was 10.72 million tons, an increase of 55.4% year-on-year, and the import volume was 1.94 billion US dollars, an increase of 58.9% year-on-year.

Resources at the end of 2010, Beichuan Yi Autonomous County of Sichuan Province won the honorable title of “Hometown of China's Beige Marble”, once again setting off a wave of “mines” in the staking circle of stone companies.

Sichuan Jiangyou Jinshida Stone Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Kinshida”) also has a mine in the area with a reserve of 44.89 million cubic meters and an annual output of 150,000 cubic meters. According to sources, the mine will produce 45,000 cubic meters of blocks this year and the processing plant will start this year. Before that, Jin Shida invested 200 million yuan for the development of a mine in Jiangyou.

The real monopoly in the domestic market is imported high-grade beige marble, which accounts for about 80%. The provinces that currently produce beige marble blocks in China are mainly the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and the total annual production is less than 100,000 cubic meters. The Yunnan mining area is small in size and scattered, with a variety of color varieties and a small block size. The ore of Guizhou has a low degree of crystallinity, a softer material, and poor polishing brightness. The prices of building decorative plates produced in the two provinces are in the mid- to low-end level, and the prices are generally around 100 yuan/m2. China ranks first in the world in the reserves of stone resources, but there are few high-grade marble reserves, especially the lack of beige marble resources.

Tan Jinhua said that marble is a trade name, which includes both marbles degenerated from carbonate rocks and a large part of sedimentary generative limestone, dolomite and hydrothermal carbonate rocks. According to the assessment of the National Stone Testing Center, the Beishi area has the same lithology as the imported gold and yellowish marble and the Spanish slate, both belong to marine sedimentary limestone, and its mineral composition, chemical composition and physical properties are very high. Close to meet Dali's standards.

According to industry sources, the current domestic high-end marble gross margin can be as high as 70%, thus attracting many people "Nuggets." “When the quality is equal, the impact of output on prices is of utmost importance. A single-variety stone enterprise with an annual output of 1 million square meters and a stone enterprise with an annual output of tens of thousands of square meters cannot guarantee its product quality, market support ability and price control capability. In the same way, mines are not short of money, and they can be turned into cash when they are dug up. Therefore, high-quality mine resources are very hot and basically finished."