Recent industry trends and core views:
Recent developments in the cement industry: the cement index fell 2.25% last week, outperforming the building materials index. From January to February, the cement output was 199 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 17.8%. Mainly due to the poor performance of the demand side, the average value of the overall cement shipment rate from January to February was 12 PCT lower than that of the same period last year, and the efforts of peak shift shutdown were strengthened. Last week, the national cement market price was 509 yuan / ton, down 7.1 yuan / ton month on month. The price reduction areas are Liaoning, Henan, Chongqing and Qinghai, with a range of 20-180 yuan / ton, and the price increase areas are Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, with a range of 50-100 yuan / ton. In late March, due to the recurrence of the epidemic in China’s cement market and the superposition of rainstorms in some areas, the demand fell significantly month on month, and the shipment rate of enterprises generally decreased by 20% – 30%. Affected by this, the cement price fluctuated and adjusted again. On the whole, there is a sudden change in the short-term market supply and demand situation, the demand shows a phased decline, and the off peak production ends, the supply increases, the enterprises are under great pressure, and the enterprises in some regions plan to extend the off peak production response.
Core view: from the beginning of the past decade to the end of the peak season (5.30), the average value of the maximum increase of the cement index was 35.3%, the lowest in 21 years was 14.5%, and the maximum increase of the cement index since the beginning of the year was only 10%. We believe that the current policy environment is more favorable than that in 21 years, and there is still room for subsequent increase. The government work report mentioned the target of GDP growth of 5.5% in 2022, the confidence of steady growth is further strengthened, and cement is expected to benefit. We judge that the demand side of the whole year is still resilient. It is 22q1 or the low point of the industry. From Q2, with the year-on-year weakening of the impact of coal price + the opening of price rise, the performance may improve quarter by quarter. In the medium and long term, cement has entered a period of downward demand. In the future, the industry will focus on the opportunities brought by the change of the industry’s supply side under the objectives of “dual control” and “dual carbon”: a) the policy requires that the proportion of benchmark capacity in 2025 will exceed 30%, and the industry’s capacity of 2500t / D and below is expected to withdraw one after another in the future, and the total capacity will shrink by more than 8.6%. b) The cement industry is expected to be included in carbon trading in the future. The transformation of carbon tax + emission reduction intensifies the cost pressure of small enterprises, highlights the leading competitive advantage, is expected to further expand through mergers and acquisitions, enhance the voice, and gradually raise the price center. The demand side expects that the infrastructure side is expected to make a good start in Q1 in 22 years, and the bottom of the real estate side is expected to pick up. In the medium and long term, the cement industry as a whole may develop in the trend of “volume reduction and price increase”. After being included in carbon trading, it may accelerate the improvement of supply side concentration, and the improvement of leading share is expected to support performance growth. From the perspective of dividend yield and valuation, cement companies have high investment performance price ratio.
Recommend [ Gansu Shangfeng Cement Co.Ltd(000672) ], [ Huaxin Cement Co.Ltd(600801) ], leading [ Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited(600585) ], focusing on Jiangxi leading [ Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement Co.Ltd(000789) ] and northwest leading [ Gansu Qilianshan Cement Group Co.Ltd(600720) ], which are expected to benefit from infrastructure development.
