Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, April 11 -
Question: how commodity prices go up our robust supply chain to respond?
Xinhua News Agency reporter
"I have a ship of coal, and during the few days I queued for unloading at the port, it increased by more than 30 yuan per ton." Liu Hui, who has been engaged in bulk commodity trading for more than 20 years, said with emotion that the price increase of bulk commodities in the past year has been rare since he joined the trade. of.
For a period of time, the prices of domestic commodities such as energy, metals, and agricultural products have continued to rise, especially for manufacturing raw materials such as copper, aluminum and steel. Compared with the same period last year, futures prices have basically increased by more than 50%, and spot prices have also been double-digit. The growth above.
Taking the most widely used steel as an example, data from the China Iron and Steel Association show that steel prices have repeatedly hit record highs since the first quarter of this year.
At the end of March, the prices of rebar and plate rose by more than RMB 500/ton and RMB 800/ton respectively from the beginning of January.
Starting from mid-March, the social stock of steel has accelerated to decline, of which rebar is the most reduced variety.
The same applies to copper, which is widely used in industrial fields such as batteries, wires, and motors.
As of April 9, domestic copper prices have reached 66,000 yuan/ton.
This kind of "rising voice" has aroused great attention.
On April 8, the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council held its fiftieth meeting and proposed that "it is necessary to maintain the basic stability of prices, with particular attention to the trend of commodity prices."
The impact of price increases is gradually being transmitted along the industrial chain.
The biggest impact is undoubtedly the home appliance industry.
The person in charge of a leading domestic electric company pointed out that the cost of home appliances raw materials accounted for more than 60%, and there is a large demand for copper, aluminum, steel, plastics and other bulk raw materials.
Since the end of last year, the home appliance industry has collectively announced price increases.
In the first quarter of this year, a number of leading companies raised prices again. For example, in March, Midea announced that the price of refrigerators would increase by 10% to 15%; the retail price of Signify’s "Philips" brand products rose by 5% to 17%; OSRAM LED drivers Power supplies rose by 5%, and magnetic ballasts rose by 10%. Leading household appliances companies such as Delixi and Chint Electric also increased their prices...
Automobiles are also deeply affected industries.
"The prices of major raw materials such as steel strip, raw rubber, and PVC have increased by an average of 20% to 30% compared with the same period last year. The pressure on production costs has increased, but product prices cannot be raised immediately." General Manager of Hebei Xinou Auto Parts Technology Co., Ltd. Jiang Mingjun said.
As the largest application field of rebar, real estate companies are also under pressure from rising costs.
An executive from Country Garden said that rebar accounted for a relatively large proportion of construction and installation costs. Fortunately, the supply and demand of the property market was booming in the first quarter of this year. The current increase in steel prices has little impact on the company's operations.
The reporter observes that the current round of commodity price increases are mainly caused by three reasons:
——Easy global currency liquidity.
In March last year, in order to further rescue the market, most European and American countries adopted economic stimulus plans, and loose currency liquidity contributed to the rise of this round of commodities.
-The supply side is tightened.
The epidemic has damaged the production capacity of copper mines in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, and the world's largest iron ore supplier Vale has reduced production, which has added a fire to the rise in global copper and iron ore prices.
——The results of epidemic control can be expected.
Since the second half of last year, China's economy has taken the lead in recovering, and the global epidemic has gradually improved.
Since the beginning of this year, as countries are actively purchasing vaccines, the speed of vaccination has been accelerating, and the global economic recovery is expected to continue to strengthen, pushing up the demand for bulk commodities.
Liu Hui believes that under the background of carbon peak and carbon neutrality, the production capacity of copper, aluminum, and steel will be further reduced. In addition, the domestic manufacturing industry has accelerated the pace of recovery and strong demand, and the price of metal raw materials will continue to rise this year.
In the face of rising raw material prices, Chinese manufacturing companies have responded steadily by adjusting their procurement strategies, controlling procurement costs, assisting suppliers' capital turnover, and optimizing supplier structures.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission stated that my country's economy has been deeply integrated into the global economy, and price trends will be objectively affected by external factors.
Abundant global liquidity and rising international commodity prices may be transmitted domestically through trade, finance and other channels, but this transmission effect is generally limited and controllable.
The official said that the recent rise in international commodity prices is mainly due to the interweaving of multiple factors such as changes in short-term supply and demand, ample liquidity, and speculation.
At present, there are no overall or trend changes at both ends of the supply and demand of bulk commodities, and prices do not have the basis for long-term increases.
"In terms of sales, we are actively'open source', increase research and development of new projects and technologies, and develop new customers to reduce costs and increase profits." Jiang Mingjun said that the company's supply can be guaranteed at present, and there is no risk of supply interruption.
In order to control cost pressure, the company increased automation, optimized production efficiency, reduced inventory backlog, and reduced raw material consumption to digest costs, and set a goal of reducing costs for all employees by 30 million yuan.
"This is a common problem faced by the entire industry. At this time, we are not fighting for a certain company, but for the fighting power of the entire supply chain. We have made some cost-reducing designs in the process design through some process and raw material substitution." He said.
According to Huang Meisong, Purchasing Manager of Op Lighting, the increase in the price of raw materials has the greatest impact on small companies, but manufacturing companies coexist on the same supply chain. Upstream and downstream customers can explore ways to strengthen collaboration through centralized procurement, volume-for-price, and industrial clusters. , Hold together for warmth, so that we can co-exist and prosper.
(Reporters Dai Xiaohe, Cui Li, Xie Xiyao, Wang Kun)