“Better eat without meat than live without bamboo.” “There was a festival before it was unearthed, and there was an open mind at Lingyun.” Bamboo, with its unique form, has been internalized into the spiritual connotation of modesty and vigor in the long river of history and culture. The ancients regarded bamboo, plum, orchid and chrysanthemum as the “four gentlemen”, and chanted them together with pine and plum as the “three friends in winter”. The “bamboo culture” has long been integrated into Chinese traditional culture.
Bamboo grows very fast and becomes a forest. However, due to the processing technology and the moldy characteristics of bamboo itself, bamboo resources around the world have mostly stayed in the primary stage of raw bamboo utilization and bamboo strip weaving for thousands of years. In recent years, with the continuous emergence of various bamboo products such as bamboo board and bamboo furniture, the economic benefits of the bamboo industry have been gradually seen.
Few people will connect the Millennium tradition of “bamboo” with “science and technology”. However, there is such a company, which takes “science and technology” as its tool, makes “bamboo” articles and lists the bamboo industry. A few days ago, the interview group of the Securities Times “walking into the specialized new little giant” walked into Longzhu Technology (831445. BJ). Lian Jianchang, chairman of the company, had an in-depth dialogue with Gao Feng, deputy editor in chief of the securities times, about the development process of the company from “IKEA core supplier” to the leader of independent research and development of bamboo products.
“Bamboo is specialized, new, hard and beautiful”, Lian Jianchang summarized the company’s scientific and innovative characteristics. “We hope to win the trust of consumers and the confidence of the capital market with science and technology.” He said.
IKEA core supplier of bamboo products
Starting from Jianyang Economic Development Zone in Nanping City, Fujian Province, along the expressway all the way south, brand-new industrial buildings gradually become green mountains, and trucks roar past the green mountain scenery. About half an hour later, at a corner of the road, the company Park of Longzhu technology suddenly appeared.
Walking into the gate, the high-rise “dragon bamboo innovation center” building falls directly into the field of vision, surrounded by bamboo forests in the park, where the mountain wind blows, and bamboo branches swing.
One landscape, one scenery. Nanping City, where Longzhu technology is located, is one of the best bamboo industry bases in China, known as “bamboo shoot capital in China”.
“The Phyllostachys pubescens in Nanping City accounts for 10% of China’s total. The altitude here is high and the latitude is just right. The soil is the loess soil that Phyllostachys pubescens likes. The Phyllostachys pubescens here is particularly tough and is not easy to crack and deform. The category is very suitable for household goods,” introduced Lian Jianchang, chairman of Longzhu technology.
Lian Jianchang is a local. In his early years, he worked in Nanping foreign trade company. In 2003, he gave up his “iron rice bowl” and started his business. So far, he has been dealing with the bamboo industry for nearly 20 years and knows a lot about the local bamboo resources.
In 2010, Lian Jianchang founded Longtai home (now Longzhu Technology). In the early stage of entrepreneurship, the company mainly produced kitchen bamboo products such as bamboo vegetable board, knife holder and bamboo chopsticks. Later, it developed a storage product series and produced office supplies in recent years.
In 2012, Longtai household, which has been established for a short time, was “favored” by IKEA group of Sweden, becoming one of its main bamboo products suppliers in the Asia Pacific region, and gradually entered the supply chain system of brand loyalty, arc France, H & M and other international well-known enterprises.
In 2014, Longtai home was listed on the new third board, becoming the first bamboo product enterprise to land in the capital market in China. In December 2020, the company officially changed its name to Longzhu technology.
On November 5, 2021, the Beijing stock exchange was opened. As a selected layer of translational stock, Longzhu technology became the first batch of listed enterprises on the Beijing stock exchange in China. Up to now, the market value of Longzhu technology is nearly 3 billion yuan, which is the consumer goods enterprise with the highest market value among the companies of the Beijing stock exchange.
in recent years, the performance of Longzhu technology has continued to grow, and the net profit level has improved rapidly. From 2017 to 2020, the compound growth rate of sales revenue was 25.57%, and the compound growth rate of net profit was 42.56%.
At present, Longzhu technology is carrying out the diversified strategy of bamboo product layout. The company has made breakthrough progress in the strategy of “replacing plastic with bamboo”. Among them, “winding bamboo straw” has become the company’s first private brand product to expand the bamboo FMCG track. At the same time, the company is also promoting the R & D and production of bamboo fast-moving consumer goods such as bamboo clothes hangers and bamboo containers and the sales of independent brands.
the night before the commercialization of bamboo straw landed
10mm and 12mm milk tea and coffee straws are the starting point for Longzhu technology to promote the commercialization of bamboo straws.
Since January 2021, China’s “most prohibited plastic order” has been implemented, and the non degradable disposable plastic straw has become the first batch of plastic products restricted. The straw has always been an ultra-high frequency plastic product used in public life. In 2019 alone, the annual consumption of plastic straws in China was nearly 30000 tons, about 46 billion, and the annual use of straws per capita was more than 30.
At present, the mainstream products replacing disposable plastic straws are paper straws and PLA biodegradable straws. In Lian Jianchang’s view, the winding bamboo straw developed by Longzhu technology is a more ideal substitute. On the one hand, bamboo products have the advantages of anti scalding and durability, which can solve the pain points of easy softness and poor sense of use of paper straw. On the other hand, bamboo has obvious price advantages over PLA degradable plastics.
There are also some bamboo straws sold abroad on the market. One is directly processed from small caliber bamboo, but there are some problems, such as poor product consistency and difficult mass production; The other is made by drilling solid bamboo round rod, but there are also problems of axis deviation and large wall thickness, poor use experience and serious waste of bamboo.
it is reported that the winding bamboo straw developed by Longzhu technology is made of 0.25mm ultra-thin bamboo sheet by planing and double-layer continuous winding. On the basis of having the use function, it realizes better product consistency and use experience, and can implement industrial production and standardized production. It has functional and cost advantages over other straws.
“When we develop bamboo straw, we also adhere to two basic ideas: first, let consumers see that it is a straw made of bamboo at a glance, which can see the fiber of bamboo itself and perceive the natural material of the product; second, we must meet the health needs of consumers. Our straw does not use chemical agents, uses food biological grade glue, and solves the problem of bamboo through pure physical preparation The material is easy to crack and degumm. ” Lian Jianchang introduced.
Not long ago, Longzhu technology received the new product identification certificate issued by China Forest Products Industry Association on November 30. Its wound bamboo straw passed the new product identification. The Association believes that the product has reached the international leading level.
Previously, on October 12, Longzhu technology announced that recently, the company obtained one invention patent related to winding bamboo straw issued by the State Intellectual Property Office, with the patent name of “a bamboo straw processing method”.
So far, Longzhu technology has obtained 7 invention patents, 21 utility model patents and 8 design patents related to winding bamboo straw. In conclusion, its bamboo straw has obtained appearance patents, invention patents for production technology, and a series of utility model patents. The intellectual property protection system of the product has been formed.
“Major research achievements in the industry can be reflected in this straw. There is a lot of space for replacing plastic with bamboo, and it has competitive advantages such as cost and environmental protection.” Lian Jianchang said. For the company, bamboo straw is a milestone project, bearing the mission of inspecting the prospect of “replacing plastic with bamboo” in the industry.
At present, Longzhu technology is making preparations for market expansion in a planned and nodal way, including market testing and bamboo straw testing. It is reported that the company has selected some cities to carry out market testing, and has also discussed with some large milk tea customers in China. After the market testing is completed, the company will promote the results.
In addition, Longzhu technology will adopt a differentiated pricing strategy in the sales of bamboo straws. At the same time, it will continuously reduce the cost of bamboo straws according to the cost of paper straws and PLA straws, combined with its own production efficiency and customer orders.
In terms of capacity construction of bamboo straws, Lian Jianchang revealed that the capacity of bamboo straws is expected to reach 800 million next year. It is planned to produce 2-3 billion straws within two years. The future goal is to establish a capacity of 10 billion straws.
“Bamboo straw material center” will also be a key project of Longzhu technology in 2022. Previously, the company announced in mid November that it planned to purchase the use right of industrial land in Xushi area of Jianyang District Economic Development Zone, Nanping City by means of “bidding, auction and listing” for the construction of bamboo straw material center. It is expected that the plant area will reach 120000 square meters after completion, and the annual production capacity of straw is expected to reach 5-10 billion pieces. The land area of the purchased plot is about 168 mu, and the land price is expected to be about 12 million yuan.
In addition, in order to accelerate the building of its own brand, Longzhu technology has carried out in-depth cooperation with Shanghai Ogilvy business consulting company. Among them, the company will break the traditional thinking in the brand construction of FMCG, continue to promote bamboo technology as an advantage, and focus on green and environmental protection development to promote brand construction.
“bamboo is specialized, new, hard and beautiful”
“Dragon bamboo technology began to develop bamboo straw the year before last. When the material research found that it could achieve such a new function, it developed in the direction of bamboo straw. In fact, it was a natural process. We had more than ten years of technical precipitation before.” Lian Jianchang said.
In the development process, Longzhu technology has always followed the “technological innovation drive” and realized the transformation from a household enterprise to a high-tech enterprise for bamboo material research and application. The company has been rated as a provincial “specialized and special new” enterprise, a national intellectual property advantage enterprise and a high-tech enterprise.
Since 2021, the state has strengthened the cultivation of “specialized, special and new” enterprises, leading small and medium-sized enterprises to develop in the direction of specialization, refinement, characteristics and novelty.
When summing up the scientific and technological innovation characteristics of Longzhu technology, Lian Jianchang summarized it as “bamboo is specialized, new, hard and beautiful”, which also coincides with the direction of “specialization and innovation” advocated by the state.
“Bamboo is expert enough” represents that Longzhu technology has devoted more than ten years to cultivating bamboo products, gathered Chinese bamboo professionals, cooperated with Chinese expert colleges and universities, and led the research in the industry.
“Bamboo is new enough” means that the company’s R & D investment continues to grow, the R & D expense rate reaches 5.61%, the investment share is in the leading position in the bamboo industry, and continues to launch new products, new processes and new equipment every year, with a rapid pace in the process R & D of the bamboo industry.
“Bamboo is hard enough” means “hard technology”. The company has multi-functional CNC automatic production line, KUKA intelligent Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) arm and other high-tech advanced equipment. “We have a deep moat on the equipment. Many equipment, including the equipment for producing bamboo straw, are developed by ourselves and can’t be bought in the market outside China.” Lian Jianchang said.
“Bamboo is beautiful enough” means that the company adheres to the path of sustainable development. The company is a “small and beautiful” enterprise. Although the sales are not particularly high, it is very healthy. Since 2016, it has paid dividends 1-3 times a year as a return to shareholders and actively fulfilled its social responsibilities.
The soul of “specialization and innovation” lies in innovation, and innovation is inseparable from talents. Longzhu technology, which is located in a corner of Northern Fujian, has attracted talents from all over the world.
“One of the characteristics of our company’s meetings is that it speaks from the south to the north. Shandong people, Zhejiang people, northeast people, Cantonese people and so on. Last year, the epidemic occurred, department managers and senior executives were isolated, and I was the only one in the on-site meeting. Our company is a melting pot and a place where ideas meet. Many people come here with professional ideals and collide with ideas.” Lian Jianchang said.
According to his vision, Longzhu technology will become a platform for the development of bamboo industry in the future. The first is the platform for product and R & D, and the second is the platform for talents. “Talents are not limited to those who work in Longzhu, including those who have feelings in the global bamboo industry. They can put their ideas on this platform. We can help them land. For example, a young man wants to develop a digital bamboo product. After the product is designed, we help him test, help him become an order and realize commercialization. We hope to build an open platform economy Only in this way can enterprises have infinite innovation, rather than complacency. ” Lian Jianchang said.
“bamboo replaces wood and bamboo replaces plastic” to meet the historical opportunity
“If the bamboo industry wants to form a qualitative leap, now is just a period of historical opportunity,” Lian Jianchang said.
Recently, the State Forestry and grassland administration, the national development and Reform Commission and other ten ministries, commissions and bureaus jointly issued the opinions on accelerating the innovative development of bamboo industry. We will promote the innovative development of China’s bamboo industry in an all-round way from the aspects of building a bamboo industry system, improving the ability of independent innovation and strengthening policy guarantee.
According to the development objectives proposed in the opinions, by 2025, the total output value of the national bamboo industry will exceed 700 billion yuan, build a number of innovative leading enterprises, industrial parks and industrial clusters with international competitiveness, and maintain the world leading position in the development of the bamboo industry.
By 2035, the total output value of the national bamboo industry will exceed 1 trillion yuan, becoming a strong country in the world’s bamboo industry, and the main bamboo products will enter the high-end of the global value chain.
In the future, local policies may follow. It is worth mentioning that in March this year, Nanping City, where Longzhu technology is located, also issued the action plan for the high-quality development of Nanping forest products industry cluster. The plan points out that it is necessary to promote the transformation of ecological and resource advantages into economic and industrial advantages, so as to promote the high-quality development of forest products industry. Seize the development opportunities brought by the ban on plastics in the EU, research and develop and produce products of “bamboo instead of plastics” and “paper instead of plastics”, so as to accelerate the development of the “bamboo instead of plastics” industry.
In addition, in 2020, China issued the opinions on Further Strengthening the control of plastic pollution, and made great efforts to control plastic pollution again after the 2008 plastic order. The introduction of the “plastic ban order” has greatly stimulated the demand for non plastic products and brought imagination to alternative fields such as bamboo materials.
Lian Jianchang believes that plastic products should gradually withdraw from the family life series. In addition to bamboo straws, Longzhu technology is also promoting the R & D and production of bamboo fast-moving consumer goods such as bamboo clothes hangers and bamboo containers. “We want to solve the substitution problem of daily plastic products and reduce the opportunities for consumers to use plastics on a large scale.”.
The development of bamboo industry is also highly consistent with the current “double carbon” emission reduction target. In July 2019, the State Council issued the scheme for natural forest protection and restoration system, requiring a complete cessation of commercial logging of natural forests; At the national two sessions in 2021, “carbon peak” and “carbon neutralization” were written into the government work report for the first time.
The use proportion of bamboo in life is far lower than that of wood and plastics, but it has great potential in energy conservation and emission reduction. “Bamboo has strong carbon sequestration capacity. Its carbon dioxide fixation capacity is 1.4 times that of wood, and its production cycle is short and its conversion capacity is fast.” Lian Jianchang introduced.
“In the future, dragon bamboo technology will also be deeply engaged in the field of carbon neutralization. We will find out the carbon footprint and numerically mark the formation of our products through scientific and reasonable calculation methods. If consumers can know how much carbon dioxide has been reduced for nature and society every time they use a bamboo straw, consumers will also have a sense of honor.”
Facing the development opportunities of the industry, Longzhu technology said that it will continue to adhere to the development strategy of “replacing wood with bamboo and plastic with bamboo”, take bamboo as the center, take the development of mixed materials as the core, take technological innovation as the driving force, and take independent innovation as the R & D and design principle. On the basis of consolidating the existing bamboo products business, it will increase investment in technology R & D and actively explore more application fields.
[reporter observation] break through the bottleneck of raw materials and take off the hat of traditional industries
After the launch of the “Bamboo straw” of Longzhu technology, the atmosphere of talking about “technology” in the whole bamboo industry has become stronger and stronger. Whether “replacing plastic with bamboo” can greatly expand the market boundary of the industry has also become a topic of concern from all walks of life.
China is rich in bamboo resources and profound in bamboo culture. However, for a long time, bamboo products have left the public the impression that the traditional old industry, primary processed products, low added value of products, is far from the creation of modern science and technology.
In an interview with the securities times, Lian Jianchang, chairman of Longzhu technology, also admitted that he was depressed by the passive situation of the bamboo industry.
Lian Jianchang recalled the two nodes of early entrepreneurship. Once, after reading an article about the poor quality of disposable bamboo chopsticks, he went to Japan and found that even in mature markets, bamboo chopsticks were placed in the most insignificant corners in supermarkets and other stores. After returning home, he pushed the company to explore new products.
The other is the development of bamboo board. At the end of 2004, the tsunami in Indonesia led to the reduction of natural rubber production and the soaring price of rubber wood. According to the global market situation, Lian Jianchang launched the self-developed bamboo board, seizing the development opportunity of the industry.
However, the field of bamboo board soon entered a state of brutal competition, resulting in low overall public evaluation of bamboo materials. So Lian Jianchang stopped the bamboo board business, although the company once became the largest manufacturer of a single vegetable board.
“When we were listed, we were joked by investors as’ bamboo basket technology ‘. My ideal is to take off the hat of the traditional industry and the hat of OEM. At least people don’t think the bamboo industry is very low-end.” Lian Jianchang said.
Where is the future of traditional manufacturing? In Lian Jianchang’s view, only by breaking through the bottleneck of raw materials and upgrading materials as a channel, can the extension of the industry be infinitely broad.
“For example, bamboo is a natural fiber, which is easy to mildew, but in the processing process, it can be completely modified by physical means to avoid mildew. Moreover, bamboo can be used as a composite material to solve the weakness of easy cracking and degumming by compounding with other substrates.” Lian Jianchang introduced.
Taking the bamboo industry as an example, he believes that there are infinite possibilities for upward research on bamboo materials. The application scenarios can be excavated on the basis of bamboo instead of wood, bamboo instead of plastic, and even bamboo instead of steel (or iron and other metals).
This is the development path of Longzhu technology. The company has developed from OEM production to the substitution of wood and plastic through bamboo material research and development, and constantly broke through from both ends of technology and market.
At present, the development of bamboo industry is not yet mature, and the capital market’s understanding of the industry has just started. For future development, Lian Jianchang believes that the whole industry still needs coordinated progress.
“An excellent enterprise should not only obtain an advantageous position in the industry, but also promote a breakthrough in the industry. For example, in the process of development, we should also solve the problems of Moso bamboo and upstream suppliers, help industrial chain partners how to survive and develop in the supply side reform and under the standard requirements of ESG in the future, and cooperate with the industry, especially It is the supply chain that makes progress together. ” Lian Jianchang said.
Lian Jianchang, who has been deeply engaged in the bamboo industry for many years, has also been keeping an eye on the trend of the industry. “There must be natural enemies to overcome each other. I’ve been thinking about who the natural enemies in the bamboo industry are. At present, it’s still hazy. Before we find the natural enemies, or are discovered by the natural enemies, we should quickly upgrade and complete the technical iteration.”
(E company)
