In 2023, affected by factors such as the lack of macroeconomic recovery momentum and the downturn in the real estate market, cement demand will weaken significantly, the contradiction between production and demand will become increasingly prominent, market competition will be fierce, and cement will decline sharply. Lack of demand superimposed on the downward trend, the profits of the cement industry fell by more than half, many enterprises suffered serious losses, and the cement industry fell into a crisis. Reflected in the output, from January to November 2023, the national cement output will be 186735 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 09%, a new low in the past 13 years. From January to November 2022, the national cement output was 1,950.1 million tons, a decrease of 82.75 million tons, or 424%。
In the past few years, the domestic cement industry has set off a large-scale production line construction boom, and now the problem of overcapacity is becoming more and more serious, the number of off-peak production days has been extended, and the wave of new lines has faded. According to the tracking of the Cement Big Data Research Institute of China Cement Network, as of 2023, a total of 16 cement clinker production lines will be put into operation across the country, with a total actual clinker production capacity of 23.16 million tons, a decrease of 22 compared with the same period last year8%, and more than 74% of the newly put into operation are reduction and replacement projects.
Nowadays, simply and blindly expanding production capacity has become a "loss-making business", and major cement companies are also setting their sights on areas beyond new production lines. In addition to consolidating and strengthening the main business,Exploring new tracks has also become the unanimous choice of many cement companies.
As a leader in the industry, large cement enterprises shoulder the responsibility of leading the direction of the industry and promoting the progress of the industry. Faced with industry dilemmas such as "declining demand, shrinking efficiency, and overcapacity", how do cement giants "make moves"?
Cross-border photovoltaic sword points to the future
In response to national requirements and industry needs, the cement industry has achieved "carbon peak", but there is still a long way to go from "carbon neutrality", how to speed upEnergy saving and carbon reductionIt is also a historical test of the times faced by the cement industry, which is also closely related to the future development and survival of cement enterprises.
In this context,Directly lay out the photovoltaic industry and develop into a major main businessAnd putPhotovoltaic technology is applied to the cement industry to achieve carbon reductionIt has become the mainstream of two practices in cement enterprises. The Red Lion is a prime example of the first approach.
In March 2023, Red Lion Holding Group received formal approval from the State Administration for Market Regulation to acquire a controlling stake in Asia Silicon (Qinghai) Co., Ltd. Upon completion of the transaction, Red Lion Group will hold more than 68% of the total share capital of Asia Silicon and become the controlling shareholder of Asia Silicon.
With the implementation of the national "double carbon" strategy and the rapid development of new energy, Red Lion Group has determined its future development strategy: based on the main cement business, it will enter the polysilicon industry, the main cement industry will become stronger and refinered, and the polysilicon industry will accelerate the layout and form a scaleCreate a "second growth curve" and build a dual main business pattern of "cement + polysilicon".
Compared with Red Lion's large-scale entry into the photovoltaic field, the application of new energy technologies such as photovoltaic and energy storage to cement production is more favored by most cement companies.
Such as:Photovoltaic power stations have the characteristics of high industry maturity and low entry threshold, and cement companies can reduce external power purchases through photovoltaic power generation to achieve the purpose of "zero power purchase", and then reduce carbon emissions and achieve green development. The layout of photovoltaic power stations is an important development direction for cement enterprises to reduce carbon emissions, and Conch has taken the lead in this regard.
According to the China Cement Network Cement Big Data Research Institute, from the perspective of the installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations, the current cement industry is about 1GW, accounting for about 0 percent of the country2%, the overall scale is relatively low. As of June 2023,The installed capacity of conch cement photovoltaic power generation reached 513MW, far ahead in the cement industry.
In 2023, Conch will further accelerate the integrated development of wind, solar, water and storage in the new energy industry, actively extend to upstream industries, and steadily deploy photovoltaic midstream fields such as photovoltaic glass and modules.
As early as May 23, Yang Jun, chairman of Conch Group, asked "new energy companies to grasp the cusp of industrial transformation and accelerate the pace of development" when investigating Conch New Energy. On December 1, Conch Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with LONGi Green Energy to carry out in-depth cooperation in photovoltaic business, power station projects, hydrogen energy applications and other fields.
At a time when cement companies are accelerating the layout of silicon materials and photovoltaic projects, China Cement Network has also launched the "Digital New Energy DNE" in a timely manner, aiming to build an industry big data platform covering photovoltaic, hydrogen energy, energy storage and other new energy fields, and help the healthy and high-quality development of the industry.
Extend the industrial chain and build a "moat".
It is not new for cement companies to extend the industrial chain and create new industrial growth poles by expanding upstream and downstream businesses such as aggregates and concrete, but it is a "magic trick" for "long-term prosperity".
With a complete integrated layout of the cement industry chain, it can effectively resist market risks and improve the competitiveness and profitability of enterprisesThe layout of aggregate and concrete business can play a strong auxiliary supporting role in cement.
In the first half of 2023, Huaxin Cement's aggregate and concrete sales increased by 103 year-on-year30% and 8231%。Affected by this, the company's non-cement business has steadily improved, achieving revenue of 583.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4919%, accounting for about 37% of the company's total revenue, and the net profit attributable to the parent company accounted for 56%, which has become an important contribution to the company's profits and plays an important supporting role in performance. It can be said thatThe steady improvement of the aggregate and concrete business has built a "moat" for the development of the enterprise. Coincidentally, in the first half of 2023, Tianshan sold 63.42 million tons of aggregates, a year-on-year increase of 2553%, aggregate gross margin of 3715%。Tianshan has a clinker production capacity of 3200 million tons, commercial mixing capacity of 3900 million cubic meters, aggregate production capacity of 2300 million tons. Tianshan Co., Ltd. said that it will actively develop the "cement +" businessThe commercial mixing business continued to optimize the layout, and the aggregate business developed rapidly, increasing resource reserves.
This year, cement companies are also making frequent moves in the direction of sand and gravel aggregates and concrete business: Washi Mine Investment Green Environmental Protection Materials 20 million tons of machine-made sand project started, Huaxin 30 million tons of machine-made sand project was completed and put into operation, Yufeng Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Construction West Construction to focus on concrete and other industrial cooperation.
Overseas Expansion China Cement "Goes Global".
This year, the cement industry as a whole is under pressure, the market competition is becoming increasingly fierce, profits are shrinking, the domestic cement market is like a "place of slaughter", and the foreign cement market seems to have become a broad blue ocean relative to the domestic, attracting many cement giants to take action.
In the first half of 2023, the revenue of Western Cement in the overseas market increased significantly, achieving a revenue of 120.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15744%, overseas cement clinker sales reached 1.79 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 145%, and overseas cement production capacity has accounted for 14% of the company's total production capacity6%。
Taste the sweetness of the western cement alsoA new cement clinker production line with an annual output of 5 million tons is planned to be built in Lemi Town, Amhara Prefecture, Ethiopia, which is expected to be put into operation in 2024.
In 2023, Red Lion Group's overseas layout will welcome another big move.
August 23rd,Red Lion Group, Tonga, IndonesiaRed Lion CementThe first phase of the 10,000 tons per day clinker cement production line was successfully ignited and put into operation. projectIt is 260 kilometers away from the new capital of IndonesiaThe plant and mine area is 12,600 acres, the mine reserves are 1 billion tons, and the supporting 50,000-ton seaport wharf;On August 28, Red Lion Holding Group and Indonesia Posova Group reached a project cooperation agreement and successfully signed it in JakartaTransfer of 100% equity of Balikpasa cement transit depotAgreement. Balikpaban cement transit depotIt is about 30 kilometers away from the new capital of Indonesia. 
Indonesia's relocation of the capital is huge, with a direct investment of about US$33 billion, which is expected to take at least 10 years, driving hundreds of billions of dollars in the construction and real estate markets, bringing huge demand for cement. The sea distance between Tonga Red Lion and the transit warehouse is about 160 nautical milesLarge-scale clinker production base + transit warehouse + huge cement demand for the construction of the new capitalRed Lion Group in Indonesia is already "the first to get the first month".
In addition to building new production lines overseas, there are many other actions of China's cement enterprises.
On June 28, Huaxin Cement announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Huaxin (Hong Kong) International Holdings, signed a share sale and purchase agreement with Intercement Trading InversionesProposed acquisition of Natal Portland Cement Company (PTY) Ltd100% equity for a total consideration of approximately US$231.6 billion yuan.
natal portland cement company (pty) ltd.It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intercement Cement Group in Brazil, a locally registered cement manufacturer in South Africa, and also holds business segments in South Africa and Mozambique. The closing of the equity in the transaction was completed on December 26, 2023.
With this transaction,Huaxin Cement has deployed its 10th and 11th overseas factories, and the number of overseas factories has reached 19.
At present, the layout of China's cement giants in overseas countries is accelerating, and overseas has become a "gold rush" place for cement enterprises.
Continuously upgrade and accelerate "digital intelligence".
At the "Fifth China Cement Intelligent Summit Forum" held by China Cement NetworkXiao Jiaxiang, executive chairman of the China Cement Association, said bluntly that digital and intelligent transformation is an inevitable choice to promote new industrialization and achieve high-quality development of the industry.
At present, major cement leading enterprises have taken the lead in exploring intelligent transformation, and the application of smart logistics, unmanned driving, digital mines, AI kiln grinding experts, robots, etc. in cement plants has gradually become popular, and good results have been achieved, and more and more cement plants have been selected as smart factory cases of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
On December 22, 2023, the ignition ceremony was held for the construction project of 5000t D clinker + 2 million t A cement grinding + supporting 9MW waste heat power generation project of Guangdong Qingxin Cement Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Conch Cement, which is the first in Guangdong ProvinceThe whole process is intelligent, energy-saving and environmentally friendly cement demonstration production line.
On December 28, the unveiling ceremony of the "Lighthouse Factory" of China Resources Cement (Tianyang) ** Line, a subsidiary of China Resources Building Materials Technology, marked the official settlement of the first "Lighthouse Factory" in the global building materials industry. Ji Youhong emphasized that China Resources Building Materials Technology should take this opportunity to take this opportunityFirm the pace of digital transformationto promote the high-end of enterprisesIntelligent, green, sustainable development, explore the new industrialization path of the building materials industry, and make greater contributions to the innovation and development of the industry.
At the same time,Cement network chatcem cement industry modelIt's officially launched!This is an AI intelligent dialogue model based on advanced natural language processing technology, which is combined with the cement industry to provide a new, smooth and intelligent dialogue experience, which is designed to solve puzzles for industry professionals.
From software to hardware, from decision-making to execution, the pace of all-round intelligence in the cement industry is accelerating. There is no doubt that "digital intelligence" is definitely the future of the cement industry.
As the development of China's cement industry enters a plateau, photovoltaic energy storage, sand and gravel aggregates, as well as overseas markets may become a new breakthrough for cement enterprises.