This week’s topic: cemented carbide is an alloy material with high hardness and good wear resistance, which is made of tungsten carbide powder (hardened phase) of high hardness refractory metal as the main component and metals such as cobalt and nickel (bonded phase) as the binder through ball milling, pressing and sintering. (1) China is the manufacturing center of cemented carbide, and cutting tools are one of the most important applications. In 2019, among the output of various types of cemented carbide in China, the output of cutting tools accounted for 45%, the output of mining tool alloy accounted for 25%, the output of wear-resistant tool alloy accounted for 27%, and the output of other cemented carbide accounted for 3%. China is the main production center of cemented carbide in the world. In 2019, China, Europe and the United States accounted for 40%, 25% and 16% respectively. In 2019, China’s Cemented Carbide output reached 43500 tons. In 2019, China’s cemented carbide production capacity was 43500 tons, and China’s demand was about 41200 tons, so it has surplus output for external sales. In terms of unit price, the average unit price of knives and pieces for metalworking machinery made of other cemented carbide imported from China is about 6 to 8 times of the export price. (2) Cemented carbide NC blade has a large space for localization. NC tool refers to the tool used for cutting in mechanical manufacturing, also known as cutting tool, which is also commonly referred to as tool. According to the data of prospective industry research institute, the output value of cemented carbide tools, high-speed steel tools and other tools in China accounted for 47%, 45% and 8% respectively in 2019. The market scale of cemented carbide tools has surpassed that of high-speed steel tools. Cutting tools can be divided into indexable tools, integral tools and welding tools according to different structures. The blade of indexable tools is usually called NC blade, which is also the mainstream product of modern metal cutting applications. In 2019, in China’s Cemented Carbide market, blades, milling tools and hole processing tools accounted for 49.65%, 27.63% and 18% respectively. In terms of output, Zhuzhou Diamond, Oke Precision Cutting Tools Co.Ltd(688308) , Zhuzhou Huarui Precision Cutting Tools.Co.Ltd(688059) accounted for 26.8%, 19.0% and 17.7% respectively in domestic enterprises in 2019, with a total market share of 63.5%. It is one of the top three manufacturers of cemented carbide NC blades in China. At the same time, the output of Xiamen Tungsten Co.Ltd(600549) blades in 2019 was 24.97 million, and it is also one of the major manufacturers in China. According to our calculation, in 2020, the market share of China Tungsten And Hightech Materials Co.Ltd(000657) , Oke Precision Cutting Tools Co.Ltd(688308) , Zhuzhou Huarui Precision Cutting Tools.Co.Ltd(688059) China’s Cemented Carbide CNC blades will be 12.38%, 3.09% and 3.18% respectively. The overall market concentration of Chinese enterprises is low and there is large room for localization.
Risk factors: the spread of the global epidemic is accelerating, the demand boost after overseas resumption of work is lower than expected, and China’s subsequent economic growth is weak.
