2014 ceramic tile industry development trends

According to industry insiders, for the ceramic tile product adjustment, 2014 will be a critical period. It can be predicted that in the next 3 to 5 years, the industry will complete the transformation and the thin brick will be popular.

Starting from April 1st this year, the “Building Sanitary Ceramics Industry Access Standard” will be formally implemented. This is the first time the country has established entry standards for the ceramic building industry, and has defined the industry threshold from the scale of production capacity and product quality. Jiuzheng Building Materials Network believes that the access standards are the national guidelines for the establishment of the ceramic industry, indicating that the industry from the open to the access type, the industry from extensive to intensive, ushered in the quantum leap development.

According to statistics, at present, the vast majority of ceramic tile manufacturers in China are small and medium-sized enterprises. The product structure is dominated by medium- and low-grade products, and the quality of products varies. In recent years, national quality supervision and inspection of ceramic tile product quality shows that safety indicators such as radioactivity and heavy metals have excessive detection, and the key performance indicators such as water absorption rate, breaking strength, and fracture modulus are outstanding, and the quality of products in the industry is urgently needed. Promote.

Setting up industry benchmarks

The soon-to-be-implemented "Access Standards for the Construction and Sanitary Ceramics Industry" will first release strict control signals for capacity expansion. According to the provisions of the industry's construction layout, the southeastern coastal areas will control the growth of production capacity; the central and western regions will adopt a high starting point, high level, and high-quality local conditions to undertake industrial transfer. It is strictly forbidden to build and expand projects in areas such as non-industrial planning and construction areas and urban built-up areas. If the projects that have been operated fail to meet the access standards, they should be rectified before the end of 2016; if the rectifications still fail, they should be moved out according to law. Or shut down.

The above standards impose a “dead order” on the quality of products that directly affect the reputation of the brand: the production and use of toxic and hazardous color glazes and raw materials are strictly prohibited, and the heavy metal pollution and excessive radioactive levels are prohibited; the production of sanitary ware products without glazing on the inside of the sewage discharge pipe is forbidden; Counterfeit products and products that infringe intellectual property rights.

Jia Peiyuan, director of the Stoneware Studio of the National Building and Decoration Materials Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, believes that the product quality and user market of the ceramic tile industry are currently uneven. In recent years, the qualified rate of spot checks in the production process of enterprises has been relatively high. For example, in 2013, spot inspections in the domestic and overseas regions have a passing rate of more than 90%. However, once the ceramic products reach the sales market, quality problems will easily arise. The reason is that there is a certain disconnect between the production and sales links, and the quality coordination issues between the main product manufacturers and spare parts suppliers have yet to be resolved.

Chen Huan, president of the Guangdong Ceramics Association, said in an interview with the media that access standards are the national guidelines for the establishment of the ceramic industry, indicating that the industry has shifted from open to admittance, and the industry has shifted from extensive to intensive. Only when enterprises truly understand the spirit of national industrial policies and transform their production methods can they effectively avoid policy risks in their development.

High-speed development of deposit quality hidden worry

According to statistics, since 1993, China's architectural ceramics production ranks first in the world. From 2000 to 2005, the average annual growth of ceramic tile production in China remained above 11%. Take 2008 as an example, China's ceramic tile production reached 5.7 billion cubic meters, accounting for about 60% of the world's total output, especially in emerging ceramic tile production areas such as Liaoning, Jiangxi, Hubei, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Shanxi, all exceeding 50%. .

From the data, ceramic tile industry maintains rapid development, but the overall development status and quality level of the industry are still not high enough.

At present, there are more than 2,000 ceramic tile manufacturers in China, including more than 30 large-scale enterprises, accounting for about 2%; more than 200 medium-sized enterprises, accounting for about 10%; and more than 1,700 small-scale enterprises, accounting for about 88%. Mainly concentrated in Foshan, Guangdong, Shandong Zibo, Fujian Jinjiang and Sichuan Jiajiang and other regions.

In addition to small businesses, the quality of products in the industry is also uneven. The production technology and technology level of ceramic tiles in Foshan, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have already been able to participate in international competition and the quality of products is close to the advanced level in foreign countries. However, in Fujian, Shandong, Sichuan and other major producing areas as well as in Jiangxi, Henan, Hebei and other emerging production areas, there are many small-scale enterprises, mainly in the middle and low-grade products, product quality varies greatly.

"There is still a lack of domestic brands." Huang Xinhong, secretary-general of the China Ceramic Industry Association's Building & Sanitary Ceramics Branch, said that at present, many domestic ceramic tiles are not branded, and awareness of corporate branding and construction needs to be strengthened.

Safety indicators are related to health

Inspecting the result of the national supervision and inspection of ceramic tile product quality in the past 6 years, the number of problems in a failed project is very small. However, once the spot inspection fails, it will greatly stimulate the nerves of consumers. This is a product safety indicator related to public health, including radioactive, soluble lead and cadmium.

From 2008 to 2013, ceramics country supervision and spot checks showed that there were six batches of products with unqualified radioactivity indicators and one batch in each of the past two years.

According to Hu Lile of the National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center for Building Decoration Materials, the main production materials of ceramic tiles include natural mineral materials (such as clay and feldspar), chemical raw materials (such as oxides and metal salts), and industrial waste residue materials (such as coal gangue). Fly ash, etc.), in which some of the raw materials have a high content of radionuclides, the radiation of α, β, γ, and other rays is harmful to human health.

In this regard, the country has formulated more stringent standards. The "Limits for Radionuclides in Construction Materials" was imposed nationwide in January 2002. Since July 2002, the market has stopped selling products that do not meet the national standards. The above-mentioned standards were revised in 2010 and clearly defined the radioactive limits in building materials. In addition, the country implements the compulsory certification system (CCC) for the radioactivity of porcelain tiles. If it does not meet the requirements, it is not allowed to sell, and the control of radioactive hazards is strengthened.

According to experts, it is possible to use leaded glazes and cadmium-containing pigments in ceramic tile production. Lead and cadmium in bricks can cause harm to the human body and the environment. Even more frightening is that cadmium has a cumulative effect in the human body, the incubation period of up to 30 years. “Technical Requirements of Environmental Labeling Products Ceramic Tiles” and “Ceramic Tiles” all regulate the content of lead and cadmium in products.

The new tiles were broken after they were bought. Many consumers are worried about such things during the renovation process, and such complaints and disputes are also common. Analysis of the reasons, in addition to the process of transport-related, the quality of the product itself is not the performance of the key lies.

Destruction strength and modulus of rupture are important factors that reflect the performance of ceramic tiles, and are directly related to the service life and decorative effect of the product. In the products sampled in recent 6 years, there were 78 items and 44 items that failed the breaking strength and the modulus of rupture. In general, the percentage of unqualified items exceeded 45%, resulting in the ceramic bricks being easily broken during use. , broken or missing surface defects such as missing corners. Hu Lile believes that strict control of billet composition, particle ratio, forming moisture, and strict guarantee of molding pressure and firing temperature are effective measures to improve the breaking strength and fracture modulus performance.

Thinning will become a trend

Talking about the development trend of the ceramic tile industry, industry associations and business people all agree that light and thin products will become a major trend in the industry.

Under the requirements of national energy conservation and emission reduction, the development of the architectural ceramics industry must be transformed, from high energy-consuming industries to low-energy industries, the direction is to achieve the thin ceramic tile products and the reduction of sanitary ceramic products, the first to start work It is the thinning of a ceramic tile.

In March 2013, Zang Bin, Secretary-General of the China Building Sanitary Ceramics Association, stated at the ceramics industry development forum in 2013 that the core of the development of energy-saving and emission-reduction industries will be through standard revisions to promote thin bricks nationwide. In 2015, tile thinning was achieved throughout the industry.

On September 1, 2013, the industry standard for "thin ceramic tile" was formally promulgated and implemented, which released a signal to the industry and enterprises that will change the current situation in which the ceramic tiles are thinned in the industry with "great thunder and little rain."

Dr. Hong Yin, a senior expert in the ceramic industry, said that thin-sheet and thin-brick products are still in the beginning stage, and many companies position them as luxury products rather than mass products, especially 600 mm×900 mm and 600 mm×1200 mm. As represented by thin plates, the price in the domestic market has never been lower than 100 yuan/block. However, the promotion of thin plates and thin bricks throughout the industry will become a trend. At the same time, although thin plates have a history of nearly 10 years in China, currently only less than 20 companies in China are producing such products, and most of them are concentrated in Foshan. Therefore, the problem to be solved at present is how to reduce the price and make it a popular product before it can achieve large-scale promotion.