The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the plastics industry
Half of the year is about to pass in 2020. During this half-year. There are many forest fires in Australia. COVID-19 sweeping the world, influenza B in the United States. The locust disaster in East Africa. The earthquake in Turkey. The death of Kobe. The crash in Afghanistan, etc. Sad. In particular, the global COVID-19 epidemic is currently in a tense anti-epidemic period. No one dares to relax because of the prevention and control around the world.
During the epidemic, under the influence of “closing the city” in various places. Various enterprises were forced to suspend or postpone the resumption of work. Although many companies have been resuming work one after another, resuming work is not a simple matter. Some companies said that the main problem of difficulty in resuming work was related to domestic transportation and supply chain related problems. Resulting in an insufficient supply of raw materials. People throughout the country are looking forward to the end of the epidemic as soon as possible so that everything is on track.
Small and medium-sized enterprises are an important force in my country’s economy. And the backbone of modern economic construction. Especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The impact of the epidemic makes some business owners unbearable and even faces the risk of failure. During the epidemic, SMEs were affected in procurement, production, and sales. The resulting financial pressure on SMEs had the most serious impact. After the epidemic occurred, due to protection needs, measures such as isolation, prevention, and control. And restrictions on population movements were adopted. Raw materials were difficult to be delivered in time, personnel resumption of work was delayed. And production capacity utilization declined. Enterprise income cannot be guaranteed. But employee salaries, social security, taxes, rents, etc. Are all rigid expenditures, and the company’s funding gap has widened.
This epidemic has an inevitable impact on industries and enterprises involved in the plastics field.
COVID-19 epidemic on the plastics industry
Keywords: masks, polypropylene fiber materials, plastic products
Affected by the epidemic situation, there is a high probability of delay in the rework of terminal workers after the holiday. Which will affect short-term demand?
Demand for masks increased significantly
Demand for polypropylene fiber materials increased: In this epidemic prevention epidemic, medical-surgical masks and protective masks (N95 masks) became the focus of demand. And the relevant sales platforms and offline outlets were out of stock.
Medical-surgical masks are basically made of PP materials. Medical protective masks (N95 masks) are composed of mask face and tension bands. In which the mask face is divided into inner, middle, and outer layers. The inner layer is ordinary sanitary gauze or non-woven fabric. The middle layer is a layer of ultrafine polypropylene fiber meltblown material. And the outer layer is a layer of nonwoven fabric or ultrathin polypropylene meltblown material. This means that in the case of a large increase in demand for medical masks. The short-term demand for its raw material PP is also significantly increasing.
Declining consumer demand for plastic products: Most of the plastic products on the demand side are labor-intensive industries. On the one hand. The epidemic caused workers to delay reunion, leading to lagging demand. On the other hand, the reduction of various parties during the Spring Festival will reduce the consumption of products. Such as one Tableware, plastic bags, food packaging, etc.
The “closure of the city” caused an increase in the cost of labor logistics: even if the price of polypropylene did not increase. Freight and labor costs increased, resulting in increased costs.
COVID-19 epidemic on the Injection molding industry
COVID-19 epidemic on the plastics industry
Keywords: supply chain, manpower, cross-border
According to the current development situation of the domestic injection molding industry. The outbreak has caused many adverse effects. And also exposed several shortcomings in the industry.
Fragile and thin supply chain related to injection molding: During the epidemic, the demand for injection molding, molds, and equipment related to alcohol pots, thermometers, cleaning bottles, masks, etc. Was strong, but the related supply chain could not meet the demand.
Depends heavily on manpower: the injection molding industry can be made into a low-manpower industry. One person guarding 10 machines can do it. But now the domestic injection molding industry is still generally labor-intensive. During the epidemic, it can be expected that the biggest problem encountered during the general start of work after the epidemic is the lack of manpower. Resulting in low output is an inevitable result.
Small and complete, resulting in an N-fold increase in manufacturing complexity. Which has an adverse impact on the development of the industry: The injection molding industry group spans more than a dozen large industries. From auto parts to daily necessities, from 3C to toys, from medical to electricians. From home appliances To furniture, etc.
The precision ranges from mm to μ. The cleanliness level ranges from desert to 10,000. The order quantity ranges from 1 million to 1 million. And the material price ranges from 6,7 yuan to 500 yuan per kilogram. It stands to reason that each category should have its own strengths. But the fact is that every family wants to get more orders and more cross-border orders. It does not take into account the huge differences in the business. And manufacturing models of different industries. And the company’s profits are small. Not conducive to the industry’s rapid development.
Plastic material industry
Keywords: logistics supply, market demand, export
Due to the impact of the epidemic, traffic control, and separation of people from each other. Important logistics companies will not operate normally until the inflection point of the epidemic occurs. Which will cause a period of delay and the materials companies to need to resume raw materials for production? During the epidemic, many raw materials that cannot form normal Logistics supply will also have a greater impact on the new materials industry. In addition, some raw material price increases after the epidemic may also occur. Which will affect the operation and efficiency of the enterprise to varying degrees?
After the epidemic, the market demand for new materials will also change people’s lives, learning, medical treatment, epidemic prevention and control, health care. And other closely related biomedical materials products. The demand will increase significantly, at the same time, product performance, quality, price, etc. Put forward higher requirements, will profoundly affect the enterprise’s technological innovation. As well as the adjustment or optimization of product structure or operation mode.
The epidemic will cause the export of new materials and products to face uncertainty.
For example, the WHO (World Health Organization) has designated the epidemic as PHEIC (International Public Health Emergency). Although there are no further restrictions on the domestic trade of goods in the world. Can be It is expected that international logistics will be greatly affected in the coming period. Customs clearance will be delayed. And the delivery of overseas orders may face default. At the same time, restricting overseas travel of personnel will affect the business development of overseas markets. For example, participation in overseas exhibitions. And business negotiations will lead to a recent decline in overseas sales.
The epidemic situation will also seriously affect domestic. And foreign academic exchanges and cooperation in the new materials industry. Some developed countries have recently restricted the entry of people. And the number of people coming to China has also been greatly reduced. This will have an adverse impact on international academic exchanges or technology introduction cooperation. It has affected some domestic breakthroughs in key material technologies. Such as aero-engine high-temperature material technology, high-performance carbon fiber composite material technology. Third-generation semiconductor material raw material technology, super chip technology, bio-bionic material technology, etc.
Conclusion:
Although the epidemic has mostly adverse effects on the industry, crisis and opportunity coexist. The epidemic has accelerated online, data. And artificial intelligence of the manufacturing and materials industries. To a large extent, it is stimulating the majority of enterprises affected by the epidemic to actively save themselves. And intelligent chemical plants will become a major breakthrough and an important direction for future enterprise development.
