this year, under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the building materials industry has fully implemented the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference. With the sustained effectiveness of the package of policies and successive policies to stabilize the economy, the pace of resumption of production has gradually accelerated, and production has stabilized and rebounded, providing a strong guarantee for the operation of the industry. However, influenced by many factors such as volume and price, although production has rebounded, the market demand has not yet recovered, and the pressure of high cost is still great. From January to February, the production of major building materials products declined, the ex-factory price declined slightly, and the economic benefits of the building materials industry showed negative growth.
1. The output of major products declined. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to February, the added value of the non-metallic mineral products industry above the scale changed from negative to positive, increasing by 0.7% year-on-year. Among the 31 kinds of building materials products monitored, the output of 8 kinds of products increased year on year, the output of 23 kinds of products decreased year on year, and the types of growth products rebounded. In particular, the cement output of enterprises above designated size was 200 million tons, representing a year-on-year decrease of 0.6% and a month-on-month increase of 11.7 percentage points; the output of flat glass was 150 million weight boxes, representing a year-on-year decrease of 6.6% and a month-on-month decrease of 0.2 percentage points.
2. Ex-factory prices continue to fall. From January to February, the ex-factory price of building materials industry continued to fall, with the average ex-factory price of building materials products falling by 6.2% over the same period last year, of which the ex-factory price index of building materials industry in February was 97.4 (100 in December 2020), down by 6.0% over the same month last year. Among the 13 classified industries of building materials, the ex-factory prices of products in other industries declined year on year, except for lime gypsum, non-metallic mining and products.
3. The economic benefits of building materials enterprises above the scale have declined dramatically. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to February, the operating income of Industrial Enterprises above the national scale decreased by 1.3% and the total profit decreased by 22.9% year on year. The operating income of building materials and non-metallic mineral industrial enterprises above the scale decreased by 11.0% year-on-year, the total profit decreased by 39.8% year-on-year, and the decline continued to expand, the lowest year-on-year decline in the past five years. Among them, the decline in cement and building glass industries was the most obvious, with total profits falling by more than 150% year on year. The operating income and total profit of major industries such as concrete and cement products, waterproof building materials, lightweight building materials, thermal insulation materials, lime gypsum, building stone, technical glass, building sanitary ceramics, non-metallic mineral products, building materials machinery and so on all decreased year on year, and the decline rate increased; the operating income and total profit of fiber cement products and other industries all increased year on year, and the increase rate was relatively large.
4. Investment in fixed assets grew steadily. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to February, the national investment in fixed assets (excluding farmers) increased by 5.5% year-on-year. The investment in fixed assets of non-metallic mining and dressing industry increased by 13.6%, and the investment in fixed assets of non-metallic mineral products industry increased by 2.7%. In terms of components, the fixed asset investment in construction and installation projects increased by 2.0% year on year; in terms of industries, the investment in infrastructure supporting the stable development of the building materials industry (excluding the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water) increased by 9.0% year on year, and the investment in the building materials industry maintained growth.
5. Imports and exports maintained a relatively rapid growth. From January to February, the export amount of building materials and non-metallic minerals increased by 3.5% year-on-year; the import amount of building materials and non-metallic minerals increased by 54.8% year-on-year. Among them, the import amount of non-metallic minerals such as graphite, quartz, pyrophyllite, gemstones and jades increased rapidly.