2023 Accelerated elimination of outdated wood-based panel industry, boosting the market for wood-based panel machinery and maintaining strong demand
April 13, 2023 Source: Puhua Youce
- Current situation of equipment market for artificial board production lines
(1) Current Market Situation of Plywood Production Line
The plywood industry presents the characteristics of small and dispersed enterprises, labor-intensive, and outdated equipment. The traditional process of plywood production in China uses manual assembly and multi-layer press production, which requires a lot of labor and has low production efficiency. Improving the automation equipment level of production lines and adopting advanced production line technology and equipment to achieve continuous and large-scale production of plywood through continuous automatic assembly and continuous hot pressing can ensure product quality, improve production efficiency, and reduce labor costs. This will undoubtedly become the future development trend of the plywood industry. In January 2021, China’s first automated and intelligent continuous plywood production line was put into operation in Guangxi, providing direction and goals for the transformation and upgrading of the plywood industry.
(2) Current Market Situation of Fiberboard Production Line
In the early stage of production of fiberboard in China, multi-layer hot press machines were mainly used, and after 2000, continuous press machines gradually entered a period of rapid development. As of the end of 2021, China’s fiberboard production enterprises have 425 fiberboard production lines distributed in 24 provinces and cities, with a total production capacity of 53.55 million cubic meters per year; Among them, there are 142 continuous flat pressed fiberboard production lines in China, with a total production capacity of 30.37 million cubic meters per year, accounting for 56.71% of the total fiberboard production capacity in the country, distributed in 18 provinces and regions. In 2021, the production technology and equipment of ultra-thin fiberboard were further improved, with a minimum thickness exceeding 0.8 millimeters and a continuous flat pressing line running speed exceeding 180 meters per minute.
(3) Market Status of particle board Production Line
Before 2010, there were a small number of single-layer or multi-layer hot pressed particle board production lines in China, with small output and relatively unstable quality; At present, continuous flat pressing equipment is more commonly used on production lines, resulting in higher efficiency and lower consumption during equipment operation. By the end of 2021, particle board production enterprises nationwide have 331 particle board production lines, distributed in 23 provinces (cities, districts), with a total production capacity of 38.95 million cubic meters per year; Among them, there are 79 continuous flat pressing particle board production lines in China, with a total production capacity of 20.1 million cubic meters per year, accounting for 51.60% of the total production capacity of particle board in China, and distributed in 18 provinces and regions.
By the end of 2021, 31 particle board production lines are under construction nationwide, with a total production capacity of 8.04 million cubic meters per year. In addition to the Northeast, there are particle board production lines under construction in East China, South China, Central China, Southwest China, North China and Northwest China; Among them, there are 23 continuous flat pressing particle board production lines, with a total production capacity of 7.1 million m3/year, accounting for 88.31% of the production capacity of particle board under construction. In recent years, the market share of continuous flat pressing production lines has been increasing. The technology upgrading represented by continuous flat pressing production lines instead of periodic production lines and continuous rolling production lines has been continuously promoted in the fiberboard and particle board industries, and the number of continuous flat pressing production lines has continued to increase.
- Market Prospect of Artificial Panel Machinery Manufacturing Industry
The expansion of production capacity of wood-based panel production enterprises and the elimination and replacement of outdated production capacity jointly constitute the market space of the wood-based panel machinery manufacturing industry.
(1) Continuously Strong Demand for Artificial Panels Provides Downstream Capacity Expansion Power
The appearance of wood-based panel marks that wood processing has entered the modernization and industrialization period, making wood processing develop from simply changing the shape of wood to improving the physical properties of wood, thus expanding the application field of wood. Artificial panels are widely used, with furniture manufacturing being the main application area, followed by the field of building decoration. The proportion of usage in furniture manufacturing in China’s wood-based panel applications is about 60%, while the proportion in building materials and floor manufacturing is 20% and 7% respectively, and the proportion in packaging is 8%.
In 2020, the consumption of wood-based panel products in China was approximately 296 million cubic meters, an increase of 0.8% year-on-year; Over the past decade, the average annual growth rate has been close to 8.4%, and the average growth rate of consumption has been higher than the growth rate of production. Among them, the national consumption of plywood products was 186 million cubic meters, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%; The consumption of fiberboard products was 59.66 million cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%; The consumption of particle board products was 31.05 million cubic meters, up 9.5% year on year.
Sales of segmented products in China’s wood-based panel industry from 2017 to 2022
Accelerated elimination of backward industries boosts sustained strong demand in the artificial board machinery market
The sustained strong demand for artificial board is mainly due to the impact of terminal markets such as furniture, building materials, and flooring. The development of the national economy, the improvement of residents’ income level, the acceleration of urbanization, the development of the real estate market, and the demand for house renovation are home building materials, which provide continuous impetus for the development of the artificial board market.
1) Rapid economic growth and continuous increase in disposable income of residents
Since the reform and opening up, China’s economy has maintained rapid growth, the total economic output has been continuously increasing, and people’s lives have been improving day by day. With the rapid development of China’s economy, the per capita disposable income of urban residents has continued to grow since 2008. China has a large population base, and the improvement of per capita consumption capacity will drive a larger scale of terminal consumer markets such as artificial panels, furniture, and building decoration.
2) The growth of the real estate market scale is an important support for the development of the artificial board industry
In 2001, the sales area of domestic commercial housing was 224 million square meters, which increased to 1.794 billion square meters in 2021, with an average compound annual growth rate of 10.96%. The overall growth trend is relatively fast, but due to the comprehensive influence of macroeconomic environment and real estate policy regulation, the year-on-year growth rate of each year varies greatly.
In recent years, the government has successively introduced a series of macroeconomic control policies for real estate, and the growth rate of sales area of commercial housing has slowed down. However, with the continuous promotion of urbanization and construction in China, the urbanization rate continues to increase, and the sales of commercial housing will still maintain a large scale.
3) Renovation and renovation of houses provide a replacement demand for the artificial board industry
The market demand for artificial boards in furniture manufacturing and building decoration is not only related to the first decoration demand of newly built houses, but also closely related to the replacement demand brought about by house renovations.
Most houses and buildings in China were built in the 1990s and early 21st century, and the renovation cycle of houses is generally 10-20 years. Therefore, most houses and buildings in China have entered the renovation period, and the degree of novelty, functionality, and comfort of furniture and home decoration have significantly decreased. There is a demand for replacement and upgrading of furniture, flooring, door panels, and other components. At the same time, considering the demand of hotels, office buildings, office buildings, affordable housing invested by the national government in recent years, and the constantly advancing transformation of urban shanty town and dilapidated urban and rural buildings, the actual market demand in the field of furniture manufacturing and architectural decoration will be further expanded. The development of the national economy, the increase in disposable income of residents, the growth of the real estate market scale, and the continuous creation of furniture manufacturing and building decoration demand through house renovation and renovation provide impetus for the development of China’s artificial panel industry.
(2) Adjustment of demand structure for wood-based panels brings opportunities for the development of new production lines
1) The proportion of particle board in wood-based panel industry is gradually increasing
At present, the market in Europe and the United States and other countries has formed a wood-based panel industrial structure dominated by particle board. The application of particle board accounts for about 60%, which is the mainstream board in the mature foreign market. However, the proportion of particle board in China’s wood-based panel consumer market is relatively low. Among particle board products, oriented particle board products accounted for more than 50% in North America and Europe, and the output of oriented particle board in China’s particle board industry accounted for a small share. Affected by the market expectation that the decorative oriented particle board can replace the laminated plywood and blockboard, it is expected that China’s oriented particle board market will usher in a new round of development.
Customized furniture has a constantly increasing penetration rate due to its high spatial utilization and personalization level; In addition, in recent years, the country has issued a series of policies to vigorously promote the development of prefabricated building and promote the continuous improvement of China’s particle board consumption. According to the statistics of the Forest Products Industry Association, the number of particle board enterprises, production lines and total production capacity across the country are showing an overall growth trend. In 2020, the consumption of particle board products accounted for 10.5% of the total consumption of wood-based panels, and the inventory decreased year on year. High quality products became the mainstream of the market. In addition, particle board is the only man-made board variety in China whose import volume is greater than its export volume, and the supply and demand gap of high-end particle board products has always existed. In the future, the proportion of particle board in China’s wood-based panel consumption is expected to further increase, and there is obvious room for growth. The market prospect of particle board continuous flat pressing production line is promising.
2) Successfully developed ultra-thin fiberboard products and entered the market
Ultra thin fiberboard products have high bending strength and impact strength, small deformation, small warpage, high surface glossiness, non fuzzing after polishing, strong decorative ability, and high waterproof performance. They can replace traditional boards for decorative and flooring products, as well as paper, plastic, and other packaging needs for food, gift boxes, and other products. The market application prospects are broad, Provide market demand for the research and production of ultra-thin fiberboard production lines.
3) The market for bamboo and grass (including straw) artificial boards is on the rise
Artificial boards made from straw, bamboo, and waste bamboo and wood products can partially replace wooden boards for furniture manufacturing, building decoration, and decoration. They have the function of saving materials, replacing wood, and protecting forest resources. They also have obvious advantages in safety, health, green, and sustainability, and are more competitive in price compared to traditional products.
With bamboo, reed, and other straw based artificial boards becoming a new favorite in the market, artificial board production lines that can adapt to non wooden raw materials such as bamboo and straw are facing development opportunities.
(3) Accelerated elimination of outdated production capacity leads to demand for equipment upgrading and replacement
Due to the comprehensive impact of industry regulatory policies such as supply side reform and increased environmental protection policies, as well as the continuous improvement of production technology and process level, the wood-based panel industry is in a stage of industrial upgrading and development where advanced production capacity replaces outdated production capacity. The adjustment of production capacity structure in China’s wood-based panel industry is accelerating, and outdated small production lines are continuously shut down and eliminated, encouraging the construction of automated large-scale production lines. As of the end of 2021, a total of 814 fiberboard production lines have been closed, dismantled or discontinued nationwide, eliminating outdated production capacity of 37.72 million cubic meters per year; A total of 1095 particle board production lines were closed, dismantled or discontinued, and the backward production capacity was eliminated about 29.73 million cubic meters per year.
The accelerated elimination of outdated production capacity in the artificial board industry has given rise to a demand for equipment upgrading and replacement. As a high-end artificial board manufacturing equipment, the continuous flat pressing production line will continue to have strong market demand. As of the end of 2021, the number of continuous flat pressed fiberboard production lines under construction in China is 7, accounting for 92.23% of the total production capacity of fiberboards under construction in the country; The number of continuous flat pressing particle board production lines under construction is 23, accounting for 88.31% of the total production capacity of particle board under construction nationwide.
- Development Trend of Artificial Panel Machinery Manufacturing Industry
(1) Large scale
With the full implementation of the supply side structural reform and the continuous increase of the national environmental protection policy, the adjustment of the production capacity structure of China’s wood-based panel industry has accelerated, continued to close and eliminate backward small production lines, and encouraged the construction of automated large production lines. The number of small enterprises has significantly decreased, and the industry’s concentration ratio has gradually increased. The large-scale production and equipment of the artificial board industry have become a trend. The average single line production capacity of the continuous flat pressing production lines of fiberboard and particle board in China has continued to increase, reaching 126000 m3/year and 118000 m3/year respectively in 2021, and the maximum single line production capacity of the production lines under construction has reached 600000 m3/year.
(2) Digitization
With the gradual increase in the popularity of automated mechanical equipment for wood-based panels, the digital and intelligent transformation of wood-based panel production and manufacturing will become an inevitable result of technological progress and economic development, and also the direction of national policies to promote industrial upgrading. The digital production line of artificial board is a manifestation of the integration of equipment, network, information, automation, lean management, and manufacturing technology. It transforms the production workshop into a digital manufacturing platform, collecting, analyzing, processing, transmitting, storing, and applying production data, achieving real-time monitoring, data collection, fault diagnosis, and subsequent analysis optimization of the system, making production and manufacturing more efficient.
(3) Stronger adaptability to raw materials
Fully utilizing resources such as artificial fast-growing commercial forest processing and three residues, and developing artificial board production to replace large-diameter wood products, plays an irreplaceable role in protecting the ecological environment and meeting the different needs of economic construction and social development for forest products. In recent years, in addition to fast-growing forests and three residues, artificial board production equipment using crop straw, bamboo, and other raw materials has been put into operation. Bamboo and grass based panels not only have obvious advantages in safety, health, green, and sustainability, but also have more competitive prices compared to traditional products. China has the largest reserve of bamboo resources in the world, as well as agricultural wastes such as crop straws, waste bamboo and wood products, waste wood-based panels and furniture in a very large volume. Under the background of “carbon neutrality, carbon peak”, providing solutions for the production of wood-based panels with a variety of alternative raw materials has become the development trend of wood-based panel equipment industry.
- Analysis of Major Enterprises in the Industry
Yalian Machinery, Hongya CNC, Nanxing Co., Ltd. and other enterprises are high-tech enterprises leading import substitution in the field of artificial panel production lines and panel furniture equipment manufacturing. Their main products have a leading position in the domestic market share, and their technological level is gradually catching up with international advanced levels. They are all national level specialized and innovative “little giants” enterprises.
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