China Cement Network cement big data market monitoring information shows that the current average price of Shandong cement is more than 100 yuan/ton lower than the same period last year, which can be described as a sharp decline. The price of cement in the
chart is the price
in place including tax. Why does the price drop so much? According to the feedback from many cement enterprises in Shandong, the local cement demand dropped by 20-50% in 2023, the kiln line operation rate was less than 1/3 , and most enterprises were running at a loss. The sharp drop in demand, coupled with the "long history" of overcapacity, the extremely prominent contradiction between supply and demand has made Shandong cement prices lose the basis for rising. A cement enterprise
in Linyi said that the ex-factory price of cement in the enterprise has dropped by about 120-150 yuan/ton compared with the same period last year, and the local ex-factory price of cement is generally a little more than 200 yuan per ton, which can be said to be a "loss when leaving the factory". In addition to the well-known contradiction between supply and demand caused by overcapacity and shrinking demand, the "vicious" competition among enterprises around the country for market and customers is an important reason for the extremely low price.
At the same time, the number of grinding stations in Shandong is huge. After purchasing clinker, the grinding station sticks to the bottom line of quality standards in the production process and mixes as many admixtures as possible to reduce production costs, so that its price is tens of yuan per ton lower than that of cement produced by large brand manufacturers, and there is still room for survival. Therefore, the grinding station occupies a large share of the civil market under the condition of low-cost cement. When investigating the cement market in Shandong,
China Cement Network learned that there is almost no single flow of cement from the high price area to the low price area in Shandong, and "running around" has become a common phenomenon everywhere.
Zaozhuang is a big cement production city in Shandong Province. A local cement enterprise said that in 2023, Zaozhuang even had a lot of cement inflow from Rizhao and Tai'an. Once profitable, as long as it does not exceed the transportation radius, cement from cities with small production capacity frequently flows into the market with huge production capacity, and it is not uncommon for neighboring cities to compete with each other with low-priced cement. The whole of Shandong seems to be "in a mess".
Apart from the above "internal worries", Shandong cement market is also facing "foreign invasion". The person in charge of a cement enterprise
in Jinan reported that in 2023, the price war at the intersection of Shandong, Henan and Hebei was fierce, and many low-priced cement from Hebei was discharged to Shandong. The local cement market was deeply affected by Hebei, and the annual price was basically below 250 yuan/ton.
"Sigh in the west and sigh in the east", although the coastal areas of Shandong are more difficult to be affected by changes in inland prices, they have the same distress. A person in charge of a cement enterprise in Yantai said that local cement prices were severely impacted by cement from the southern market.
"It's mainly conch cement, which goes all the way north from the coast of the Yangtze River Estuary and comes directly to our home.". Because of the poor quality of local limestone in Yantai, the cost itself is high, and when the cement from the south comes, we have no way out. The person in charge of the Yantai cement enterprise said.
