1. Overview of the masterbatch industry
Masterbatch is a kind of polymer composite coloring material, composed of pigment, resin and additives three basic elements, is the appropriate amount of pigment evenly attached to the resin and the preparation of cylindrical polymer particles, when using only the natural resin and masterbatch in a certain proportion of mixed processing, you can get the required color and various technical requirements of plastic products. The masterbatch industry is located in the middle of the plastic industry chain, in the upstream of the plastic products processing industry, and in the downstream of the raw material industry such as resins, pigments, additives, etc.
Due to the pollution-free coloring of masterbatch and the saving of raw materials, in recent years, a number of laws, regulations and policies have been introduced to support the development of the masterbatch industry, clarify the key development direction of the industry, and guide the industry to develop in the direction of high performance, multi-functional, and ecology, which is conducive to promoting the overall improvement of the industry and promoting industry integration. At the same time, the national policy also encourages the development of high-performance industries in the downstream industry, thereby further expanding the downstream application field and market space, and will also promote enterprises to continuously carry out technological innovation, product structure upgrading, and enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises.
Source: Berges
Second, the status quo of China's masterbatch industry
From 2017 to 2020, the total domestic output of masterbatches was 1.523 million tons, 1.648 million tons, 1.8 million tons, and 1.934 million tons, respectively, with an average annual compound growth rate of 8.28%. It is estimated that China's masterbatch output will reach 2.073 million tons in 2021. The rapid development of the masterbatch industry, on the one hand, benefits from the huge scale and rapid development of the downstream plastic products industry, and on the other hand, because the application field of masterbatch in the downstream plastic products industry continues to expand, and constantly puts forward new demand for masterbatch products, which promotes the development of new products and technologies in the masterbatch industry.
Source: Berges
In recent years, the mainland's national economy has developed rapidly, the plastic industry is in a period of steady development, the output of plastic products has increased, the quality and level have been continuously improved, and new varieties have been emerging. While meeting the needs of the consumer goods market, plastic products are constantly used in electronic appliances, automobiles, building materials, packaging, agriculture, medical treatment, energy, aerospace, marine and other fields. The wide range of application fields, good growth momentum and huge growth space of the downstream plastic products industry make the market demand for plastic coloring masterbatch huge. At the same time, due to the development of plastic modification technology and the strategic significance of plastic modified materials, the advantages of functional masterbatches can be brought into play, and the potential market demand is huge.
Third, the domestic masterbatch industry is highly competitive
At present, the international masterbatch market presents a monopolistic competition pattern, and the production of masterbatches is concentrated in a few super large companies. Among them, Cabot is the world's largest supplier of black masterbatch, Clariant is the world's largest supplier of color masterbatch, and PolyOne provides functional masterbatch to occupy a large market share of functional masterbatch in the international market.
After years of development, there are thousands of masterbatch production enterprises in China, and the industry has a high degree of marketization and full competition. However, on the whole, the overall scale of domestic masterbatch enterprises is not large, and there is no leading masterbatch production enterprise that occupies an absolute dominant position, most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises, and even many are family workshops, the scale is relatively small, the production process is not mature, the product quality is unstable, and the lack of sustainable competitiveness.
Only a few enterprises have formed a large industrial scale after long-term exploration and practice in this field. These enterprises have a relatively complete quality management system, have a certain ability to develop new products, production technology is more advanced, with their own technology research and development, process equipment, raw material procurement and other advantages, in the fierce competition gradually occupy a certain market position, won the recognition of customers, establish their own brand image, and the gap with multinational companies is gradually narrowing. Relatively speaking, Meilian New Materials (300586.SZ), Polydi (300905.SZ), Ningbo Masterbatch (301019.SZ), Dawn Co., Ltd. (002838.SZ) and other major enterprises in the industry have a relatively large market share of masterbatch products.
Data source: annual reports of various enterprises, compiled by Berges
These three masterbatch companies have their own masterbatch types that occupy the main operating income. In 2020, the operating income of Polydi black masterbatch was 389 million yuan, accounting for 57.96% of the total operating income, the operating income of white masterbatch of Meilian New Materials in 2020 was 440 million yuan, accounting for 29% of the total operating income, and the operating income of Ningbo masterbatch color masterbatch in 2020 was 169 million yuan, accounting for 39.85% of the total operating income.
Data source: annual reports of various enterprises, compiled by Berges
Fourth, the development trend of China's masterbatch industry
In recent years, the mainland's national economy has developed rapidly, the plastic industry is in a period of steady development, the output of plastic products has increased, the quality and level have been continuously improved, and new varieties have been emerging. While meeting the needs of the consumer goods market, plastic products are constantly used in electronic appliances, automobiles, building materials, packaging, agriculture, medical treatment, energy, aerospace, marine and other fields. The wide range of application fields, good growth momentum and huge growth space of the downstream plastic products industry make the market demand for plastic coloring masterbatch huge. At the same time, due to the development of plastic modification technology and the strategic significance of plastic modified materials, the advantages of functional masterbatches can be brought into play, and the potential market demand is huge.
With the continuous introduction of energy conservation and environmental protection policies in the mainland, it will promote the mainland plastic products enterprises to gradually improve their technical level and product quality, pay more attention to energy conservation and environmental protection in the production process, and the masterbatch with a high technical level and energy conservation and environmental protection advantages will be the preferred coloring material for plastic products enterprises in the future, and the popularization of the concept of energy conservation and environmental protection makes masterbatch products can be widely used. Secondly, with the rise of environmental protection to the national strategic level, the national environmental protection supervision has been increasing, and some enterprises are in a situation of being eliminated from the market due to substandard emissions, so they have put forward requirements for product innovation and quality function improvement of enterprises, and promoted enterprises to upgrade product technology, improve management concepts and improve production processes.
Special attention needs to be paid to the emission of pollutants during the production process. Although the production and research and development of masterbatch is not a heavy pollution, but there are waste, solid waste, sewage and noise, etc., enterprises should prepare the necessary environmental protection facilities to ensure that the environmental protection facilities are in good operation, and the treatment capacity meets the requirements of emissions, so that the dust, waste gas, solid waste, domestic sewage, and noise generated in the production and operation are reasonably and effectively controlled.