The heating season has passed, and the price of natural gas used by Guangdong ceramic factories has dropped in early April. But what is unexpected is that at the end of April, a Guangdong ceramics factory revealed that the price of LNG natural gas had skyrocketed compared with the beginning of April.
A person in charge of a ceramics factory in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, told Ceramics Information that the self-built gas station in his production area has not yet received relevant approvals. Therefore, the ceramics factory in the park has been using LNG natural gas since last year.
LNG prices suddenly rise
"How much you pay, how much you lose!"
"In early April, we signed a relevant agreement with the gas company: the lowest price of natural gas at that time was 2.15 yuan/m³, but the gas company told us that the delivery cost of LNG natural gas has now risen to about 2.7 yuan/m³." The above-mentioned responsible person People frankly said that based on this cost price, the price of LNG natural gas to its plant has reached 2.9 yuan/m³.
According to multiple large natural gas suppliers, the current cost of LNG natural gas has indeed risen sharply. In general, the current cost price of LNG natural gas to the terminal has risen to about 2.6 yuan/m³.
No matter the natural gas supplier, gas company or ceramics factory, they did not expect that natural gas prices would rise sharply at the end of April. According to relevant people familiar with the matter, the long-term supply of natural gas prices that some natural gas suppliers have signed with ceramic factories have been relatively low, with the lowest price being only 2.15 yuan/m³, and the higher price being around 2.5 yuan/m³.
Due to the skyrocketing price of LNG, some natural gas suppliers and gas companies that have signed long-term gas supply contracts with ceramic factories have successively defaulted on their contracts. The above-mentioned insider further said, "You will lose as much as you supply!" Therefore, some gas companies would rather pay liquidated damages than supply goods.
Other news said that domestic natural gas upstream companies including Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, etc. have also defaulted on downstream companies.
The overall increase in raw materials has not yet been digested
"If the price rises to 4 yuan/m³, the kiln will have to stop."
“Affected by multiple international factors, the domestic natural gas market is very chaotic.” A natural gas supplier said that ceramic factories consume a lot of natural gas, and this price increase will have a great negative impact on ceramic factories.
According to "Ceramic Information", there are currently several ceramic production areas in Guangdong with centralized supply of LNG.In addition to the Zhaoqing Guangning production area, the price of LNG natural gas used by ceramic factories in the Jiangmen Enping production area has also skyrocketed.
The person in charge of a ceramic factory in Jiangmen, Guangdong told "Ceramic Information", "Our natural gas price is now 2.4 yuan/m³, and it will rise to 3.05 yuan/m³ tomorrow (May 1), an increase of nearly 30%. It’s hard for ceramic companies to survive!”
Because many people are bullish on LNG natural gas, some ceramic factories hope to lock in a price of 2.5 yuan/m³. However, natural gas suppliers and gas suppliers basically dare not sign. Now many of them are in spot supply. If the spot is gone, then There may be successive defaults.
Relatively speaking, the price of pipeline natural gas is relatively stable. Although there will be a slight increase, it is still within the affordable range of ceramic factories.
In 2021, the price of raw materials will increase across the board, and some ceramic factories have not yet digested the impact. Now, the increase in natural gas prices has once again raised production costs.
Some ceramic companies said, "The next step is to see if the sales price of ceramic tiles can rise. If not, we can only resist for a while. Once LNG natural gas rises to 4 yuan/m³, we can only The kiln is closed."
(The article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
