With the continuous strictness of the national environmental protection policy and the increasing awareness of residents' environmental protection, the requirements of the downstream pigment industry for product safety and environmental protection are constantly increasing. Therefore, high-performance pigment products and products with less harmful substances in the natural environment will be favored by more and more consumers, thus becoming one of the powerful factors driving the growth of demand in the pigment industry.
With the transfer of the world's coatings, inks, plastics and other industries, my country has gradually become the world's most important pigment fine chemical product production base. However, since 2018, due to environmental protection and other factors, some enterprises in my country have stopped production and restricted production, which has caused a slight decline in organic pigment production. According to data, in 2018, my country's organic pigment output reached 222,000 tons.
Inorganic pigments in my country mainly include titanium dioxide, iron oxide, chromium pigments, etc., among which titanium dioxide and iron oxide are the main inorganic pigments. Affected by the epidemic in the first quarter of 2020, the production of some enterprises was greatly affected, and the new production capacity in the market was released, and the overall output increased. Data show that in 2020 Q1 my country's titanium dioxide output was 773,800 tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.88%.
Development status of downstream industries
In recent years, with the rapid development of downstream inks, coatings, plastics and other industries and the continuous expansion of application fields, it has provided a broad market demand for the development of the pigment industry.
In the ink industry, the development of my country's ink industry started late, and there is a big gap with developed countries in Europe and America. However, since the reform and opening up, my country's ink industry has achieved considerable development through various efforts such as product development, technology and experience accumulation, and equipment introduction. According to the data, in 2018, my country's ink output reached 768,000 tons, a steady growth.
Paint is traditionally called paint. Driven by internal and external factors such as national industrial policy guidance, downstream demand-driven, green, and differentiated development of special products, my country's paint industry has maintained a steady development trend. According to data from the China Coatings Industry Association, the total output of China's coatings industry in 2019 was 24.887517 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 38.45%.
With the continuous advancement of technology and technology in the plastics industry and the increase in per capita consumption, my country's plastics industry has great room for development and improvement, which will also promote the release of long-term demand for upstream pigment products. According to data, the output of my country's plastic products industry reached 81.84 million tons in 2019; affected by the epidemic in January-April 2020, the output was 19.0639 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 14.3%.
The output of downstream products such as inks, coatings and plastics has risen steadily, and urbanization and industrialization have continued to advance, and the level of national consumption has gradually increased. The market size of China's inks, coatings and plastics has continued to expand, which will also provide sufficient momentum for the development of the pigment industry. The market scale of the industry in the future will increase steadily.
Pigment industry competition and barriers
There are many production companies in the pigment industry in my country, and the market competition is fierce. The competitors with the same color system are mainly non-listed companies. The size of the company is small.
Since the production of pigments, especially high-performance and environmentally friendly pigments, involves complex processes and requires high technology, talent, capital and brand of the enterprise, there are certain technical barriers, capital barriers and brands for new entrants barrier.
