At present, China is moving towards the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutralization, offsetting its own carbon dioxide emissions through energy conservation and emission reduction. In the process of responding to the national green building development and carbon peak goal, the stone industry takes the initiative to seize opportunities and make due contributions to carbon peak and carbon neutralization through technological innovation and product innovation.
As a part of replacing natural stone, artificial stone improves the utilization rate of natural stone and reduces the pressure on the natural environment. The advantages of comprehensive utilization of resources make man-made stone play an important role in environmental protection and energy saving. It is a veritable green building material and new environmental protection material.
According to public information, the production and manufacturing process of artificial stone does not need high-temperature firing. Compared with ceramics, cement and glass products, the energy consumption in the production process is very low, which greatly reduces the energy consumption per unit output value and contributes to energy conservation and emission reduction; Moreover, the energy consumed in the whole process of production and processing is electric energy. Although part of the electric energy comes from thermal power generation at present, the future electric energy can come from wind power, photovoltaic power generation, nuclear power, etc. Therefore, man-made stone can be completely produced with clean energy in the future.
Moreover, the resin content in artificial stone is 6% to 15%. The unsaturated polyester resin used at present mainly comes from petroleum refining products, which is equivalent to artificially releasing the buried “carbon” into nature, increasing the pressure of carbon emission; In the future, the development trend of R & D artificial stone will gradually adopt biological resin, and the carbon in plants comes from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Therefore, biological resin has no new carbon emission.
Building decoration stone can be divided into natural stone and man-made stone. With the upgrading of consumption and the rise of the concept of building fine decoration, man-made stone with multiple advantages is receiving extensive attention from the society. At present, artificial stone is widely used in the field of interior decoration with countertops such as kitchen, bathroom and public restaurant.
▲ there are 7145 “artificial stone” enterprises in China, and the registration volume plummeted in the first half of 2021
Enterprise survey data show that at present, there are 9483 “artificial stone” related enterprises registered in China, of which 7145 are in existence and in the industry. From 2011 to 2019, the registration of relevant enterprises showed an upward trend. Among them, 1897 related enterprises were registered in 2019, reaching more than 1000 for the first time, with a year-on-year increase of 93.4%. Guangdong, Fujian and Shandong are the three provinces with the largest number of related enterprises. 64% of enterprises have a registered capital of less than 5 million.
In the first half of 2021, 278 related enterprises were registered nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 70.6%. The registration volume from January to June was much lower than that of the same period last year, of which the registration volume from April to June was less than one third of that of last year. According to this trend, the registration volume may fall sharply for two consecutive years.
▲ in 2020, 1508 stone related enterprises were registered, with a year-on-year decrease of 20.5%
Enterprise survey data show that Guangdong Province has the largest number of “artificial stone” related enterprises, with a total of 2577, and it is also the only province with a stock of more than 2000. Fujian Province and Shandong Province ranked second and third with 1092 and 661 respectively.
▲ top three provinces in Guangdong, Fujian and Shandong
Enterprise survey data show that 27% of enterprises have a registered capital of less than 1 million, 37% have a registered capital of between 1 million and 5 million, and 32% have a registered capital of 5 million to 50 million. In addition, 4% of enterprises have a registered capital of more than 50 million.