Limestone industry concentration is low and the market fluctuates cyclically

Limestone is an inorganic compound with calcium carbonate as its main component. Limestone also contains silica, magnesium oxide, magnesium, aluminum oxide, iron, calcium oxide and other components. Limestone is a common non-metallic mineral and a valuable resource with a wide range of uses. It is the trade name for limestone as a mineral raw material. The main mineral component of limestone is calcite, followed by dolomite, magnesite and other carbonate minerals. In addition, there are chalcedony, clay, pyrite, marcasite, hydrogoethite, glauconite, and organic carbon. , ground asphalt, gypsum, anhydrite and phosphate minerals. The main chemical property of limestone is that it decomposes into calcium oxide and carbon dioxide at higher temperatures.

The distribution pattern of my country’s limestone industry is closely related to the distribution of upstream and downstream industries. Due to the high transportation costs of limestone and downstream products and the limited increase in transportation capacity, there is a certain transportation radius for limestone and downstream calcium oxide and calcium carbonate products. The production and sales of products have certain regional characteristics, especially low-end products. The transport radius is small.

The distribution of limestone enterprises is closely related to the production of domestic limestone mines and downstream products. Our country is one of the countries with rich limestone mineral resources in the world. In addition to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macao, they are distributed in all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. Therefore, there are a large number of domestic limestone production enterprises. Due to the high cost of long-distance transportation, most limestone companies only cover surrounding areas. There are few large-scale limestone production companies in China, and only a few companies have a presence across the country. Therefore, the concentration of the domestic limestone industry is low.

Cement is the largest application area of ​​the limestone industry. As an important building material, cement is widely used in civil construction, water conservancy, national defense and other projects. It plays a vital role in national infrastructure construction and economic development. Therefore, it is greatly affected by domestic and international economic fluctuations and macro policies. It is closely related to the development of infrastructure construction, real estate and other industries, and is a relatively typical cyclical industry. Since 2017, thanks to the positive impact of the “supply-side structural reform” of the cement industry, the industry has been in an upward cycle. In recent years, with the slowdown in real estate and infrastructure investment, the domestic cement industry has entered a downward cycle, and the limestone industry has also shown cyclical fluctuations along with the cement industry.

Industry analysts said that limestone, as an important raw material in chemical industry, building materials, metallurgy and other fields, is an indispensable resource for the development of the national economy. . In the future, with the development of China’s economy, China will maintain a good development momentum in the fields of chemical industry, building materials, metallurgy, etc., especially the steel industry. After supply-side reform, China’s steel industry structure has gradually been optimized and the industry’s competitiveness has gradually improved, which will Stability in the limestone market provides support. According to the “2023-2027 Limestone Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report released by the Industrial Research Center, it is expected that in 2027 China’s limestone output will reach 2.5 billion tons.