Current situation of metal packaging industry:
Looking back at the metal packaging industry in China in 2006, five new situations and four existing problems were presented.
Firstly, metal packaging has achieved unprecedented prosperity and development, with production and sales of various major products reaching historic highs. The significant increase in economic benefits has basically reversed the passive situation of continuous decline in industry economic benefits nationwide since 2002, even facing the edge of industry wide losses. For now, taking the concentrated production of major products as an example. (The following data is for reference only)
Product Category
Production in 2006
Increased compared to 2005
Two beverage cans
8.3 billion pieces
7.5%
aerosol can
About 1.1 billion pieces
11%
Three beverage cans
8 billion pieces
33%
Three piece food can
6 billion pieces
71%
Al EOE
16.3 billion pieces
16.4%
Imperial Crown Cover
51.8 billion pieces
15%
chemical tank
Over 7 billion units
3%
steel drum
70 million pieces
16.7%
Miscellaneous cans
Over 5.5 billion units
10%
Aluminum anti-theft cover
10 billion
25%
Unscrew the lid
1.6 billion
flat
Other types of metal packaging products have seen significant growth.
Secondly, the competitiveness between enterprises is more rationalized. Most enterprises have used product quality, technology, service and other comprehensive strengths as competitive means to initially suppress the disorderly and cruel competition situation of low prices that are suicidal and below cost, thus enabling the entire industry to enter a healthy, sustainable, steady and benign development track.
Thirdly, the prices of various main raw and auxiliary materials involved in metal packaging have tended to stabilize and show a downward trend, and the supply and demand are both strong, eliminating the helpless situation of continuous high prices and insufficient supply of main raw and auxiliary materials in recent years, laying a good foundation for the development of the metal packaging industry. Taking cold-rolled sheet and tin plated (chrome plated) sheet as an example, in 2006 alone, dozens of newly established cold-rolled sheet companies and tin plated cutting companies in Hebei, Shandong, and Jiangsu were thriving. Here, I am not encouraging the establishment of more small steel enterprises, as it is not conducive to intensive production and goes against the country's long-term development strategy. However, it can be seen that the development speed of metal packaging is much higher than that of cold-rolled sheet steel. It can also be seen that although China is the world's largest steel producer, the structural contradiction of relatively lagging development of high-quality products.
Fourthly, while many companies in the industry have achieved rapid development, they have begun to focus on the path of connotative development, paying more attention to technology and technological innovation, and placing greater emphasis on product research and development. Most enterprises with a certain scale have successively established "technology centers", "research and development centers", etc., in order to improve their scientific research level, enhance the technological content of their products, strengthen their technical strength, consolidate their foundation, and face the future, so that they can achieve a good situation for long-term development.
The fifth is that the enterprise groups in the industry have already formed or are forming and showing a promising situation of rapid development. The strong are stronger, and from weak to strong, this is also the inevitable path for the development of enterprises. In just over a decade, the largest private enterprise in the country, Orijin Can Manufacturing, has developed into a large enterprise group. With its strong comprehensive strength and various resource advantages, it has successfully established several branches and offices across the country through economic operations, enabling the company to rapidly grow and expand. At the same time, it has also focused on overseas markets and further shifted its attention to seek greater development overseas. The representative of state-owned enterprises, COFCO Packaging, has been able to develop and grow through various forms such as restructuring and mergers, thanks to its strong technological and capital strength. Its high fidelity, wide color gamut, and high-definition printed iron products have always been at the forefront of the domestic market. Its diverse varieties and specifications of canning products have always had a high market share and maintained a strong development momentum, making it one of the world's metal packaging enterprises. There are several medium-sized enterprise groups in the industry, mainly characterized by the unique features, characteristics, and relatively fixed user groups of their products. These enterprise groups have initially broken geographical boundaries, taken their products as the entry point, occupied a dominant position in a certain product market, and become the backbone of the metal packaging industry. I hope that the enterprise groups in our industry will not only grow bigger, but also become stronger and more refined.
However, there are still some problems in the metal packaging industry. In 2006, I conducted research on nearly 50 enterprises of different economic natures, product structures, and scales in Beijing, Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and other places. In addition to the new situation mentioned earlier, some problems urgently need to be solved, and some are even chronic diseases that should be given sufficient attention by relevant departments. There are mainly four aspects.
The first aspect is that the situation of small, scattered, and chaotic industries has not been fundamentally curbed, and there has been a rebound in the past year.
Based on preliminary understanding and estimation, there are approximately 3000 large, medium, and small enterprises engaged in metal packaging in China, of which about 1500 are in their early stages of development and about 550 are required to have a certain scale according to national statistical standards. Due to the low entry threshold of this industry, coupled with reasons such as interest driven and local protection, there has been a phenomenon of many companies launching their own projects. In economically developed areas with abundant resources, there are even more, such as in a province where there are over 50 small and medium-sized metal packaging factories. From this, it can be seen that low-level redundant construction and overproduction of low-end products have exacerbated resource consumption and environmental pollution. So raising the entry threshold for metal packaging products and preventing a new round of blind abuse requires serious attention from relevant government departments and industry regulatory agencies. At the same time, as a professional committee for metal packaging, there is still a long way to go in promoting the integration of industrial resources, the restructuring and cooperation between enterprises, and the upgrading of products, so as to enable enterprises to enter the track of scale, modernization and benign development.
Secondly, the standard level of metal packaging products should be comprehensively improved.
In the past two years, relevant departments have organized some enterprises and units to revise product standards related to metal packaging. This undoubtedly plays an important role in promoting the quality and technological level of metal packaging products.
Some opinions on the standardization of metal packaging products.
The first point is to achieve unified planning, organization, and promotion in the formulation and revision of standards.
The second point is to raise the level of standards. The metal packaging industry should actively adopt international advanced standards to promote the overall level of metal packaging products in China. Can enterprises with a certain scale invest appropriate manpower and material resources to obtain relevant national standards for metal packaging in the same industry and enterprise standards from developed countries through various channels, and conduct research and reference for what I have learned and used, so that our products in the metal packaging industry can be fully integrated with international standards. In this regard, as an industry association, we are duty bound to lay a solid foundation for the development of China from a packaging powerhouse to a packaging powerhouse.
The third point is that the current standards for metal packaging products are not sufficient to cover all metal packaging products. Taking miscellaneous can products as an example, due to their wide variety and lack of standardization, it is difficult to establish industry standards. Therefore, enterprises should develop a set of enterprise standards that are stricter than industry standards and national standards, and continuously improve the standardization level of metal packaging products.
Thirdly, if metal packaging is regarded as an industry, it is necessary to establish a technology center or research and development center, or even a research and development base or industry university research center.
The current situation is that only a few backbone enterprises have established research and development centers, which is far from enough for the overall development of the industry. It is necessary to fully leverage the advantages of the country, regions, universities, and research institutes to carry out basic research on metal packaging and cutting-edge research, from the development of packaging products to the research and development of packaging materials and packaging machinery and equipment. In this regard, there is still a big gap between us and developed countries. If this problem is not solved in the long run, we will always be led by foreigners in the field of metal packaging, will always follow their footsteps in purchasing, will always be in a passive position, and will never stand at the forefront of the world's metal packaging field!
Fourthly, it is urgent to strengthen the recycling and reuse of metal packaging waste, promote the production of green packaging, and promote the development of circular economy.
Overall, metal packaging waste has the highest recycling rate among various types of packaging waste; The lowest reaches around 40%, while the highest exceeds 95%. However, it is not yet a true form of recycling and reuse. Firstly, there is still no practical and feasible set of regulations, systems, and measures in place; Secondly, an effective system network has not yet been formed, and most of the recycling is still carried out in a decentralized manner; The third issue is that the recycled metal packaging waste cannot be fully utilized and is far below its actual value. For example, aluminum cans are melted down after recycling and used as ordinary aluminum raw materials, which is a great pity. So as a professional committee in the packaging industry, there is still a lot of work to be done; Fourthly, some metal packaging waste is scattered due to its low individual value and large quantity, and recycling is neglected, such as crown shaped bottle caps (commonly known as beer bottle caps), unscrewed caps, aluminum anti-theft caps, etc.
The future of metal packaging
Summarize in sixteen words: adjust structure, maintain stability with upward momentum, sustain development, and have a bright future
Explain from the following aspects
From the perspective of technical equipment, many metal packaging enterprises have made significant progress and improvement in their technical equipment level, product technology level, production capacity, and specifications and varieties through technological transformation, technology introduction, joint venture cooperation, and other means in recent years. Some have approached or reached the international level, and can provide the market with high-quality and complete specifications and varieties of metal packaging products.
From the perspective of market demand, the major demand for metal packaging products is in industries such as brewing, beverages, canned food, daily chemical products, petrochemicals, and chemical engineering. In the past two years, China's beer production has ranked first in the world, while other beverages such as fruit juice, carbonated drinks, soft drinks, and canned food have increased by about 15% -25% annually. The variety and production of daily chemical products and petrochemical products have also significantly increased, providing broad development space for metal packaging products.
From the perspective of the main raw material market, according to the statistics of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, the apparent consumption of tinplate (including chrome plated plate) reached 1.55 million tons in 2006, reaching a historical high level, and the localization rate has accounted for about 93.5%. Some steel enterprises are adjusting their product structure, expanding the production capacity of cold-rolled plate and tin plated, chrome plated, and galvanized plate, which can basically balance supply and demand. The aluminum material for aluminum two-piece cans can be produced domestically, and it is expected to reach 60000 tons in 2007, breaking the situation of completely relying on imports.
From the perspective of economic development, the domestic economy has continued to grow at a double-digit rate in the past decade, and people's living standards have been continuously improving. Especially with the change in consumption concepts among contemporary young people, metal packaged beverages, food, and cosmetics are highly favored by them. According to relevant departments' statistics, our beverage production in 2006 was 41 million tons, making us the world's second largest beverage producer after the United States. The deepening development of China's petrochemical products, fine chemicals, and daily chemical products has not only expanded domestic demand but also increased exports, providing a huge potential market for metal packaging. Of course, we will not miss the important opportunity of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Facing the future of the metal packaging industry, we are full of confidence. As long as colleagues in the industry adhere to the scientific development concept, adjust the industrial structure, improve the independent innovation ability and competitiveness of the industry, transform the traditional economic growth mode, enhance service awareness and quality, we will definitely build China's metal packaging industry into a technology-based, service-oriented, and modern industry, and will definitely achieve greater development and prosperity.
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