Dongfang Zirconium Industry raises prices again, Electric melting Zirconium prices soar 15% in one month, and the market is still bullish after the shortage of raw materials.

On the evening of July 5th, Oriental Zirconium Industry (002167.SZ) issued a price increase letter: zirconia products (including mother liquid materials) and zirconia products rose 1000 yuan / ton and 3000 yuan / ton respectively. The person in charge of a domestic capacitor zirconium leading company also revealed to reporters that "the price of fused zirconium products has increased by 15% in a month." At present, 5G, photovoltaic, medical beauty and other major zirconium users are still hot, with the shutdown of the world's three major zircon sand suppliers RBM in early July, the price of zirconium products may usher in another wave of rise.

For the reasons for the increase in the prices of related products, Oriental Zirconium industry pointed out in the announcement that "the prices of various raw and auxiliary materials continue to rise and the supply is tight." A zircon sand trader told reporters that the price of zircon sand has risen rapidly in the past two years, from 8000 yuan / ton two or three years ago to about 13000 yuan / ton now. The supplier also said, "Zircon sand can not be ordered this year, there is no stock."

As the most important raw material of zirconia denture, zirconium series products have attracted much attention in the past two years. At the end of June, Rio Tinto, one of the world's top three zircon sand suppliers, announced that "due to the escalation of the security situation at (RBM), a South African Richards Bay mining company, its customer contracts in South Africa have become force majeure, so it has decided to stop operations until the safety situation is improved. All mining and smelting operations at RBM have been suspended until further notice. " As soon as the news came out, the whole market was "shocked".

Zircon sand is the "grandmother" of all zirconium products. At present, only Hainan Island in China has its production base, and more than 80% of zircon sand is imported. Huachuang Securities Research News pointed out that in the case of a shortage of zirconium sand and rising prices this year, the suspension of RBM mining will have a significant impact on the domestic market. Previously, some downstream customers have said that the supply of RBM zircon sand will be reduced this year, or even can not completely guarantee a stable supply.

Some industry insiders told reporters that the continued shortage of zircon sand and rising prices are not a good thing for the industry, which will affect downstream demand and hurt the market.

In addition to chemical zirconium such as zirconium oxychloride and zirconia, the price of fused zirconia also continues to rise. The head of a domestic leading company of fused zirconium told reporters, "in the past month, the price of fused zirconia in our company has risen from 32000 yuan / ton to 37000 yuan / ton, an increase of about 15%."

According to the data of Huajing Industrial Research Institute, in addition to traditional markets such as refractory and wear-resistant materials and ceramic glaze pigments, fused zirconia has also opened up new fields such as implant teeth, mobile phone back panels, 5G base station filters, zirconium-based amorphous alloys, and so on. China has become the world's largest consumer market for fused zirconia. According to public information, Kaisheng Technology (600552.SH) and Sanxiang New Materials (603663.SH) account for more than 50% of China's fused zirconia market.