Refrigerant products rise strongly, air conditioner manufacturers calm response

Gold prices have risen, bitcoin has skyrocketed, and various precious metals market prices have continued to be high... From the fourth quarter of 2017, the “surge” news of “various prices” is endless. Everyone's concern seems to have been around these common elements, but there is a small "stone" - fluorite, which has been quietly increasing prices. As an important raw material for fluorine chemical materials, the price of fluorite and hydrofluoric acid has reached the highest price since 2011.

As of February 27, 2018, the prices of fluorite and hydrofluoric acid were 3000.00 yuan/ton and 15316.67 yuan/ton, respectively, up 17.42% and 28.42% from the end of November. The prices of refrigerants and downstream products have also risen correspondingly, ushered in the "opening up" in 2018.

What are the reasons behind the burgundy and hydrofluoric acid market that have been quiet for many years? What are the reasons behind the traditional fluorine chemical industry chain? The end of the traditional fluorine chemical industry chain is mostly used in household appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators, so how the price of raw materials will rise all the way, how will it affect household appliances? What is the impact of the production costs of refrigeration companies and the rise in manufacturing costs on consumers' purchase of electricity?

Market

Raw materials "have no market price" have occurred, and insufficient production capacity is the cause

There must be a cause for it. The reason why the market has the phenomenon of “no price and no market” is actually the imbalance between supply and demand. As an important raw material for fluorine chemicals, the price of fluorite and hydrofluoric acid is good because of the shortage of supply and the boost of downstream market demand.

“Because of the domestic investigation of environmental protection in 2017, most domestic fluorite manufacturers and hydrofluoric acid producers started to partially stop work, and some even stopped production directly, resulting in serious shortage of domestic fluorine chemical raw materials. The overall operating rate is only six or seven. And last year, during the Spring Festival, the national temperature was generally lower than the previous years, causing some production companies to stop working in advance, which further exacerbated the tension in the market." In the case of Dr. Shengsheng, who is engaged in chemical raw materials research, in addition to market supply Insufficient, the rising demand for downstream refrigerants, surfactants and other commodities, and the increase in market sentiment have also intensified the contradiction of the shortage of fluorine chemical raw materials market, which has led to a rise in prices.

Affected by the skyrocketing price of raw materials for fluorine chemicals, and the increasing sales of household appliances such as air conditioners, the price of refrigerant products has soared since January 2017, and the increase in 2018 is still unabated. Relevant data show that as the main refrigerant raw materials for household air conditioners, dehumidifiers and other household appliances, R22, R125, R410a and other refrigerant products have risen to varying degrees, and the R125 price has increased since the low point in September 2017. More than 60%.

What is the impact of the strong price of refrigerant products on electrical appliance manufacturers? Will this round of price increase be attached to the final consumer?

The answer given by the enterprise is basically: "Try not to affect the purchase of the consumer side."

Business response

Fluoride-free replacement + large-scale production to digest high costs, "do not give consumers pressure"

"In the face of the continuous rise in the price of refrigerant products, it will have an impact on the cost control of production enterprises." Huang Wenjun, head of the marketing department of Gree Electric Appliances in Zhejiang Province, said that as a refrigerant demand "large", such as air conditioning Products, in the face of rising refrigerant prices, refrigerator production costs must increase, but Gree through the large-scale production, coupled with the company's industrial structure adjustment and upgrade, has tried to digest the pressure of raw material prices.

“Previously produced products are basically high energy consumption, low energy efficiency and low price. However, through product structure adjustment and upgrade, we gradually guide consumers to purchase low-energy, energy-efficient intelligent frequency conversion products, through sales increase. Drive the expansion of production scale, so in terms of cost procurement, it has a comparative advantage over the average small enterprise." Huang Wenjun told reporters that Gree will not raise prices for home appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators due to the rise of raw materials.

As Huari Electric, which specializes in the production of refrigerators, this round of price increases of fluorine chemical raw materials has basically no effect on the production of enterprises. "Because we are now using fluorine-free refrigerant as raw material to make products, so the impact is relatively small, and will not affect the sales price of terminal electrical appliances." Deputy General Manager of Zhejiang Huari Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. Sun Minhua said.

Although this wave of chemical raw materials has little impact on the consumer side, will it affect the price of ordinary household electrical appliances after sale? The reporter visited a few home appliance repair and maintenance shops in Hangzhou city, and learned that the current home appliance after-sales maintenance market The price has not been affected. "For example, to add air conditioning to Freon, the price of one-time top-up is about 280 yuan." Master Zhang, who is mainly responsible for air-conditioning maintenance, told reporters that this price has basically been this price for the past year.