Market Analysis of the Refractory Industry

Refractory materials are mainly used for high-temperature industries such as metallurgy, building materials, and non-ferrous metals. About 70% of them are used in iron and steel smelting, 17% are used in the building materials industry, and 3% are used in the non-ferrous metal industry. Driven by the demand from the downstream industries for refractory materials at home and abroad, the output of refractory products nationwide has stopped the downward trend for four consecutive years, and the annual output has reached 23.45 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 2.3% for refractory materials.

The output of dense-shaped refractory products was 13.27 million tons, and the growth rate was similar to that of refractory products. Among them, silicon bricks and magnesia bricks grew faster, increasing by 40% and 30% respectively; the output of thermal insulation refractory products was 540,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%; the output of unshaped refractory products was 9.64 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%.

Unshaped refractory materials have become an important member of refractory materials that cannot be ignored because they do not need to be performed and fired. my country’s monolithic refractory technology has developed rapidly, and the level of research and application has been continuously improved. Its performance can basically meet the needs of domestic high-temperature industries. However, with the rapid development of the high-temperature industry, especially the country’s energy-saving requirements for the high-temperature industry, the energy-saving of monolithic refractories is still an important and arduous task.

Under the background of no bright spot in domestic demand, export has become the main growth point of refractory materials. In 2021, the total export trade volume reached 4.5 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 54%, and the first three quarters of last year increased by 33% year-on-year. This is not only due to The international sanctions against Russia can also reflect from the side that domestic players’ independent substitution capabilities are constantly improving, and their international competitiveness is steadily improving.

China is a big consumer of refractory materials, accounting for about 60% of the world’s total consumption of refractory materials, and is still the dominant market for refractory materials.

In recent years, although the steel production in developed countries and regions such as Japan, the United States, and Europe has stagnated, the steel production in my country, India, Brazil, Iran, and other countries has increased, and the overall global steel production is still showing an increasing trend; others such as cement, Glass, non-ferrous metals, petrochemicals, ceramics, and other manufacturing industries are developing vigorously in China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and other countries and regions.