Abstract: Under the impact of multiple adverse factors such as high oil prices, weak demand and repeated epidemics, the operating performance of China's Carbon Black industry dropped significantly this year, with a profit of 430 million yuan in the first three quarters, down 81.09% year on year. This is the information obtained by the reporter recently from the 2022 China Carbon Black Annual Conference and General Assembly.

Under the impact of multiple adverse factors such as high oil prices, weak demand and repeated epidemics, the operating performance of China's carbon black industry dropped significantly this year, with a profit of 430 million yuan in the first three quarters, down 81.09% year on year. This is the information obtained by the reporter recently from the 2022 China Carbon Black Annual Conference and General Assembly.

According to statistics, in the first three quarters, 33 key enterprises in the carbon black industry achieved a total industrial output value of 31.921 billion yuan at current prices, up 20.89% year on year; The sales revenue was 33.799 billion yuan, up 19.67% year on year; The profit was 430 million yuan, down 81.09% year on year; The profit margin was 1.27%, down 6.78 percentage points year on year. The total output of carbon black was 3.5655 million tons, down 1.5% year on year.

"Among the 11 sub industries of the rubber industry, the carbon black industry has suffered the most serious decline in operating indicators, especially the profit indicators, which are far behind the market and ranked first from the bottom." Shen Jinliang, Chairman of Carbon Black Branch of China Rubber Industry Association, pointed out.

The business difficulties of carbon black enterprises have intensified. In the first three quarters, except for Jinneng Technology, Shanxi Yongdong, Shandong Lianke and a few other enterprises, the output of other enterprises decreased. Although the production and sales of most carbon black enterprises were basically balanced, the inventory of finished products increased by 80000 tons, with a growth rate of 47.3%, and the accounts receivable increased by 52.3%.

Carbon black production cost pressure is high. In the first three quarters, the price of raw materials increased by 43% year on year, while the price of carbon black only increased by 22% year on year, which made it extremely difficult for carbon black enterprises to operate. Among the 33 enterprises in the monthly statistics of the industry association, 8 enterprises lost money, accounting for 24.24%.

In addition, the import substitution risk of carbon black began to emerge. In the first three quarters, China exported 658000 tons of carbon black, a year-on-year increase of 15%, with an average price of 1619 dollars/ton and a unit price increase of 29%; 67000 tons of imported carbon black, down 14% year on year, with an average price of US $3837/ton, up 26%. From January to September, China imported 2266 tons of Russian carbon black, a year-on-year increase of 20.8%. The average import price was 1494 dollars/ton, significantly lower than the average export price.

In the face of severe business situation, Shen Jinliang believes that there is still room for improvement in the carbon black industry in three aspects. First, export. China's carbon black export accounts for only 14.7% of the total carbon black output, far from reaching the average level of 30% in the rubber industry. Second, reduce energy consumption. The oil consumption of raw materials and comprehensive energy consumption in the carbon black industry increased by 0.6%~0.7%, and technological progress was not reflected. Third, improve labor efficiency. China's per capita carbon black annual output is less than half of the world's top three levels, and labor efficiency is low.

As for the development of carbon black industry in the later period, Shen Jinliang analyzed that the carbon black industry is facing the normalization of epidemic situation, environmental protection, oil price and demand, and will continue to bear the pressure of high labor costs and high logistics costs. Next, the whole industry must work together to reduce fuel consumption and cost, adhere to promoting export and foreign exchange, encourage more restructuring, expand production, and firmly control production by self-discipline and stabilize the market.