In 2018, the market scale of China's quartz sand exceeded US $3 billion, and the demand for high-purity quartz sand grew rapidly

Quartz sand is an important industrial mineral raw material, non chemical dangerous goods, widely used in glass, casting, ceramics and refractories, smelting ferrosilicon, metallurgical flux, metallurgy, construction, chemical, plastic, rubber, abrasive and other industries.

   

In the market, silica sand is the most basic quartz mineral product, which can be divided into quartz sand, quartz powder, ultra-fine silica powder, cristobalite, high-purity quartz, etc. according to the different grade and processing degree of the ore body itself. Quartz sand mainly refers to river sand, sea sand and weathered sand with more silicon dioxide. In addition to the main component silicon dioxide, it also contains iron oxide, clay, mica and organic impurities. It is mainly used as raw material of glass industry and ceramic industry, and flux of metallurgical industry. Fine quartz sand can be used as abrasive for grinding glass, etc.

   

The main products of quartz sand include ordinary quartz sand, refined quartz sand and high-purity quartz sand. The high-purity quartz sand can be subdivided into ordinary high-purity quartz sand and ultra-high-purity quartz sand. The main product characteristics and application scope are as follows:

The unique physical and chemical properties of quartz make it play an important role in aviation, aerospace, electronics, machinery and today's rapid development of IT industry, especially its internal molecular chain structure, crystal shape and lattice change law, which make it have high temperature resistance, small coefficient of thermal expansion, high insulation, corrosion resistance, piezoelectric effect, resonance effect and its Unique optical properties play an increasingly important role in many high-tech products.

From the perspective of the supply pattern of China's domestic industry, at present, the common quartz sand is mainly made of Hesha, mica and low-grade quartz ore as raw materials, and the refined quartz sand mainly consists of medium-grade quartz ore and selected ordinary quartz sand. High purity quartz sand is mainly produced by high-grade quartz ore.

There are 150 reserves in China, most of which are located in Qinghai, Liaoning, Shanxi, etc.; most of them are located in Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, etc.; most of them are located in the south of Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, northwest of Hainan and north of Shandong, as well as the east of the West Liaohe River, the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Panyang lake and Luoma Lake Gangue deposits are distributed in the metamorphic rock areas of Xichuan, Heilongjiang and Hubei.

In 2014-2016, due to the slow development of China's real estate market, the main demand for quartz sand such as flat glass declined, while the GDP growth slowed down, the consumption boost was slow, and the demand for daily glass industry fell simultaneously However, the production capacity of the middle and low-end products in China's quartz sand industry is surplus, the supply of the main varieties in the market exceeds the demand, and the product price continues to fall. In terms of high-end products, domestic enterprises in China have gradually broken the market monopoly of foreign enterprises, the output of products has gradually declined in large quantities, and the price of products has declined substantially. As a result, the market scale of China's quartz sand industry has been declining in 2014-2016. In 2016, the scale of the industry market was about 10.783 billion yuan. After 2017, with the recovery of the real estate market, the recovery of GDP growth, environmental protection and production restriction and other factors, the market price of the industry rose sharply, and the growth of the industry demand also increased to a certain extent. The scale of the industry market increased to 15.104 billion yuan in 2018.

Market scale trend of quartz sand industry in China in 2014-2018

In 2018, the total output of quartz sand in China is about 82.55 million tons, including 41.01 million tons of ordinary quartz sand, 35.18 million tons of refined quartz sand and 6.36 million tons of high-purity and ultra-high-purity quartz sand.

Statistics of China's quartz sand industry by variety in 2018

At present, the quartz sand used in various countries in the world is generally self-produced and self used; due to the uneven distribution of resources and high price of high-quality sand, most countries have a certain amount of import and export in addition to self-produced and self used.

Generally speaking, in 2018, China's quartz sand industry is in full supply. The supply of ordinary quartz sand and refined quartz sand at the middle and low end is relatively surplus. High purity and ultra-high purity quartz sand still depend on imports to a certain extent. Especially the ultra-high purity quartz sand products.

   

According to the import statistics of China Customs, the import volume of China's quartz sand has been increasing in recent years. On the one hand, the overall production capacity supply of China's high-purity quartz sand is relatively limited, but the demand is growing rapidly. At the same time, the limited production of China's domestic environmental protection results in the relatively insufficient supply of refined quartz sand raw materials, the rising price, and the increase of refined quartz sand import volume.

Import Statistics and analysis of China quartz sand (HS: 25051000 silica sand and quartz sand) industry in 2014-2018

In terms of export, China's export of quartz sand is relatively limited, mainly concentrated in the export of refined quartz sand, mostly in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and other places, and the export price is relatively low.

Export statistics and analysis of China quartz sand (HS: 25051000 silica sand and quartz sand) industry in 2014-2018

China is still the leading consumer of quartz sand in 2019. In 2018, the demand for industrial quartz sand accounts for about one third of the total global demand. China's glass industry is also the largest in the world. The consumption of industrial sand for doors and windows, electronic display screens, photovoltaic panels and other flat glass products will continue to increase. The rising production of China's daily glass industry (especially glass bottles such as liquor and beverage) will further promote the sales of refined sand. The increase of oil and gas resources exploitation investment will also promote the demand of ordinary quartz sand. At the same time, the technological progress of China's electronic equipment manufacturing industry, the demand for optoelectronic devices and optical fiber driven by 5g technology will significantly promote the demand for high-purity quartz sand.

At present, the demand for quartz sand products of all categories in China still has some room to rise, and the apparent consumption of quartz sand in China has maintained a relatively stable growth trend since 2015. In 2018, the apparent consumption of quartz sand in China is about 84056400 tons, and the trend of the industry's apparent consumption in recent years is shown in the figure below:

Trend of apparent consumption of quartz sand in China in 2014-2018

The overall supply and demand situation of quartz sand in China is basically balanced. The supply of medium and low-grade products is slightly excessive, and the supply of medium and high-grade products is slightly insufficient. Ultra pure and high-purity quartz sand need to be imported. In recent years, China's quartz sand supply and demand are relatively stable. From the downstream of the industry, at present, the industry's downstream demand is mainly flat glass and daily glass industry. High purity quartz sand is mainly used in photovoltaic monocrystalline silicon, optical fiber and semiconductor, high-end optical devices and light source industry. In recent years, the demand has increased rapidly.

From the perspective of the downstream of the industry, the demand for quartz sand is mainly the production and manufacturing demand of the downstream of the industry, which is closely related to the growth rate of real estate and fixed asset investment, as well as the overall economic growth and resident consumption growth. From the perspective of industry supply, at present, the production technology of medium and low-end products in the industry is mature, and the market supply is relatively sufficient. The main factors affecting the supply of medium and low-end products are industry related policy adjustment factors such as environmental protection, followed by downstream demand factors. In terms of medium and high-end products, at present, China's domestic supply capacity is limited, but there is a large demand, and there is significant space for import substitution. Therefore, the supply factors of high-end products mainly depend on the technological progress of the industry.

   

In terms of the current market price, due to the pressure of China's environmental protection in recent years, as well as the rapid development of photovoltaic, semiconductor and other industries, the price of China's quartz sand products rose in 2018. In 2018, the price of ordinary quartz sand is about 100-120 yuan / ton, the price of refined quartz sand is about 230-250 yuan / ton, the price of ordinary high-purity quartz sand is about 600-800 yuan / ton, the price of super-high purity quartz sand above 4N is about 30000 yuan / ton, and the supply price of domestic enterprises is about 16000-21000 yuan / ton. Under the condition of similar performance, it has price advantage and flexible supply Advantage should be. However, limited by the domestic production technology level, there are relatively limited enterprises that can supply ultra-high purity quartz sand products above 4N.

It is pointed out that due to the status of silicon materials in modern electronic information industry and energy industry, quartz has also become an irreplaceable basic material in the development and progress of national strategic industry and pillar industry. Among them, the products with high added value and high gross profit rate are mainly high-purity quartz sand supported by relevant policies of China.

High purity silica sand is produced by processing, jaw crushing, calcination, water quenching, hammer breaking, roll breaking, screening, magnetic separation, pickling, flotation, wet screening, water washing, solid-liquid separation, roasted sand, strong magnetic separation and other processes with high-grade quartz stone (SiO2 content greater than 99.80%).

   

At present, high-purity quartz sand generally refers to quartz powder with SiO2 content higher than 99.5%. At present, the highest purity of large-scale production can reach 99.999% (5N). The price of the product is closely related to the purity. The silica content of the low-end product is 99.5-99.99% (2n-4n), and the price is about 600-800 yuan per ton. The purity of middle end product is 99.995-9.999% (4n-5n). The product price is about 30000 yuan per ton. The price of high-end 5N high-purity quartz sand is 60000 yuan per ton, and the supply is in short supply.

   

The general application path of high-purity quartz sand products from the middle and low end to the high end is light source industry (99.5% ~ 99.99%), high-end optical devices, laser devices (over 99.99%), to optical fiber communication, semiconductor, photovoltaic, microelectronics and other fields (99.995 ~ 99.9999%).

   

In recent years, with the rapid development of China's electronic information industry, electric light source industry and the explosive growth of photovoltaic industry, the total industrial output value of China's quartz products industry has maintained a rapid growth. In the field of semiconductor, quartz is an indispensable raw material. Almost all processes from the production of auxiliary parts to the actual silicon processing tools are more or less using quartz products. Quartz crucible is used to manufacture single crystal silicon, quartz glass bell cover is used in photolithography, quartz boat and quartz bracket made of quartz tube can be used in IC extension, diffusion and photolithography. The rapid development of semiconductor industry will drive the demand growth of high-purity quartz materials in the upstream.

   

In the field of optical fiber communication, high-purity quartz glass products are important materials in the optical fiber production process. It is widely used in fiber preform manufacturing and fiber drawing process, in which the purity of core rod is the highest (more than 5N).

   

The optical fiber semiconductor market requires high purity, specification accuracy and quality stability of quartz materials. Most domestic quartz products manufacturers do not have the ability to produce high-purity quartz sand and electronic grade quartz products. Therefore, at present, domestic optical fiber semiconductor manufacturers still mainly import quartz products to foreign enterprises. World famous quartz enterprises, such as holly's, maitu and Xinyue quartz, occupy most of China's optical fiber semiconductor application market. The raw materials for the manufacture of optical fiber mandrel and sleeve are mainly monopolized by unimin. At present, optical fiber preform quartz sleeve products mainly rely on imports, the cost of imported optical fiber quartz sleeve is high, and the domestic demand for replacement is strong.

      

In 2017, the global optical fiber output was 534 million core kilometers, a year-on-year increase of 13.38%. Among them, China's optical fiber output was 347 million core kilometers, a year-on-year increase of 15.67%. China's optical fiber output has accounted for 65% of the total global optical fiber output. Influenced by 5g communication, broadband China, triple play and other policies, China's optical fiber industry scale will further increase. In the future, with the development and application of 5g and other information technologies, the optical communication industry will play a significant role in promoting the development of high-end quartz products. Therefore, affected by the rapid development of the downstream optical fiber semiconductor industry, the market demand for high-purity quartz products will continue to grow.