Supply and demand in the chromium salt industry chain are stable and the industry is booming

Chromium salts refer to chromium-containing compounds, which are one of the main products of my country’s inorganic chemical industry, including basic chromates, dichromates, chromates, chromium oxides and chlorides. Among them, sodium dichromate and chromic anhydride are The main product is chromium salt. Chromium salts are widely used in electroplating, tanning, catalysts, oxidants, metallurgy, medicine, dyes, magnetic materials, wood antisepsis, spices, metal polishing, pigments, military industry, oil and gas mining, ceramic glass and other fields.

The upstream of the chromium salt industry chain includes chromium ore, sulfuric acid, soda ash and other production raw materials; the midstream includes chromium salt products such as sodium dichromate, chromium oxide green, chromic anhydride, potassium dichromate, basic chromium sulfate; the downstream includes electroplating, tanning , oxidant, catalyst, medicine, pigment, military industry and other application fields.

According to the “China Chromium Salt Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, From the upstream of the industrial chain, there are few chromium-containing minerals on the earth, and my country is short of chromium ore resources. The total reserves of ore are only 10.78 million tons. Therefore, my country’s chromium ore raw materials mainly rely on imports. For many years, the import volume of chromium ore has ranked first. World number one. South Africa is my country’s main import source of chromium ore, accounting for more than 80% of total imports. The stability of the chromium ore supply chain is low. my country’s sulfuric acid and soda ash output is relatively stable. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s sulfuric acid output in 2021 will be 93.827 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.6%; soda ash output in 2021 will be 29.133 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%.

From the perspective of the middle reaches of the industrial chain, my country is the largest producer of chromium salts, with annual output accounting for about 40% of the world. Because hexavalent chromium is toxic and water, soil, and air contaminated by hexavalent chromium are extremely harmful to the human body, in recent years, emissions from domestic chromium salt production companies have been strictly controlled. Against this background, some small and medium-sized chromium salt production companies with backward production capacity have gradually withdrawn from the market, and the number of chromium salt companies has decreased. As of 2022, there will be less than 10 chromium salt production companies in the country. Hubei Zhenhua, Chongqing Minfeng, and Sichuan Yinhe are my country’s leading chromium salt production companies. Their combined production capacity accounts for 55% of my country’s total production capacity, and the industry is highly concentrated. Among them, Hubei Zhenhua completed the acquisition of Chongqing Minfeng in 2021, accounting for 40% of my country’s production capacity, and has become the world’s largest chromium salt manufacturer.

From the downstream of the industrial chain, chromium salts are important inorganic chemical products in my country and have a wide range of applications. More than 10% of the industrial products in my country’s national economy are related to chromium salts. Among the proportion of downstream demand in the chromium salt industry, electroplating, pigments, and tanning rank among the top three. The domestic electroplating industry has developed steadily and has shown an overall upward trend in recent years. In 2021, the market size of my country’s electroplating industry will be 179.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%; in the first half of 2022, the market size of my country’s electroplating industry will be 92.8 billion yuan.

Industry analysts said that chromium pigments are mainly used in the fields of plastics, coatings and inks. In 2021, my country’s plastics, coatings and ink output will be They were 80.02 million tons, 23.26 million tons, and 850,000 tons respectively, all increased compared with the previous year. At the same time, our country is a major tanning country in the world and one of the markets with the greatest development potential for the tanning industry. In general, the downstream development of the chromium salt industry chain is relatively stable, and the future development will be good in the long term.