First, the overall operation of the national industry above the scale

In March 2018, the value added of industry above the scale increased by 6.0% year-on-year in real terms (the following value added growth rates are the actual growth rates net of price factors), down 1.2 percentage points from January to February. From a chain of view, in March, the value added of industry above the scale increased by 0.33% over the previous month. In the first quarter, the value added of industry above the scale increased by 6.8% year-on-year.

1, January-March, industrial enterprises above the size of the main business income of 25.2 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.6%; incurred 21.2 trillion yuan of main business costs, an increase of 9.4%;

2, 1-3 months, the national industrial enterprises above the size of the total profit of 1.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.6%, the growth rate than in January-February slowed by 4.5 percentage points.

Main business income profit margin of 6.18%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points year-on-year.

3, the end of March, industrial enterprises above the size of 12.8 trillion yuan of accounts receivable, up 9.4%; inventory of finished goods 4.02 trillion yuan, up 8.7%.

Second, the production and operation of the refractory industry in January-March 2018

1, the production of refractory materials

January-March, the same caliber comparison of the national production of refractory materials 475.80 million tons, an increase of 11.08%. Among them, 2,779,200 tons of dense shaped refractory products, an increase of 8.52%; 124,800 tons of thermal insulation refractory products, an increase of 24.89%; 1,654,000 tons of unshaped refractory products, an increase of 15%.

2, the import and export trade of refractory raw materials

In the first quarter, the national import and export trade of refractory raw materials totaled $ 1.073 billion, up 50.49% over the same period last year. Among them, export trade amounted to $ 987 million, an increase of 49.04%; import trade amounted to $ 0.86 billion, an increase of 70.16%.

The country's total exports of refractory raw materials 1,487,100 tons, down 3.31% year-on-year. Among them, exports of refractory raw materials 1.0810 million tons, down 3.99%; exports of refractory products 406,100 tons, down 1.43%.

(1) the main refractory raw materials exports

① electrofused magnesia and sintered magnesia exports were 135,900 tons and 210,300 tons, an increase of 15.22% and -17.76%, respectively.

② refractory aluminum clay, brown and white corundum exports were 188,200 tons, 115,500 tons and 50,100 tons, down 21.46%, 15.13% and -1.23% year-on-year.

(3) Graphite and silicon carbide exports were 37,200 tons and 78,800 tons, up 6.61% and -5.82% respectively.

(2) The export of refractory products

① alkaline refractory products exports 236,200 tons, an increase of 3.09%.

② aluminum and silicon refractory products exports 138,900 tons, down 13.34% year-on-year.

③ other refractory products exports of 31,000 tons, an increase of 37.31%.

3, export trade operation characteristics

(1) the main refractory raw materials export prices high growth

In the customs inquiry of the main refractory raw materials export varieties, graphite, refractory clay, electrofused magnesia, sintered magnesia, brown corundum, white corundum and silicon carbide export prices increased by 46.08%, 48.59%, 117.96%, 118.32%, 20.72%, 23.10% and 2.26% year-on-year, respectively.

(2) the export volume of refractory products slightly reduced, but the average export price increased significantly.

January to March, the export volume of refractory products decreased by 1.43% year-on-year. Mainly aluminum and silica products exports decreased by 13.34% year-on-year; and alkaline refractory products and other refractory products exports increased by 3.09% and 37.31% respectively.

Comprehensive average export price increased by 62.88% year-on-year, of which: alkaline products and aluminum-silicon products export average price increased by 85.91% and 33.26% respectively; and other refractory products export average price decreased by 4.82% year-on-year.

(3) January to March, the import volume of refractory products 1.70 million tons, an increase of 138.94%. Among them, 0.79 million tons of imports of alkaline products, an increase of 247.52%; 0.43 million tons of imports of aluminum and silica refractory products, an increase of 44.57%; 0.48 million tons of imports of other refractory products, an increase of 156.81%.

Refractory products imported comprehensive average price of 4.62% lower year-on-year, mainly due to the average price of alkaline products imported 68.07% lower year-on-year; and aluminum-silicon refractory products and other refractory products imported average price increased by 17.60% and 18.83% year-on-year, respectively.

Third, the main downstream industries production operation

(A) the operation of the steel industry

1, China's steel industry production and operation

January-March, the national crude steel production of 212 million tons, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year, the growth rate increased by 0.8 percentage points; steel production of 247 million tons, an increase of 4.7%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points.

2, the world steel industry production

In the first quarter, the world's 66 major steel-producing countries and regions crude steel production 427 million tons, up 4.1% year-on-year of which: 10 regions (in addition to the CIS and Russia) are different degrees of growth.

(B) the production and operation of the building materials industry

In the first quarter, the national cement production of 376 million tons, down 4.5% year-on-year, a decline of 4.2 percentage points; flat glass production 201.98 million weight cases, down 2.8%, an increase of 5.1% in the same period last year.

(C) the production of non-ferrous metals industry operation

In the first quarter, the national output of ten non-ferrous metals 13.39 million tons, up 2.4% year-on-year, the growth rate fell 6.6 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, copper production of 2.21 million tons, up 8.7%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points; electrolytic aluminum production of 8.12 million tons, up 0.3%, down 10.6 percentage points; lead production of 1.27 million tons, up 11.1%, up 1.2 percentage points; zinc production of 1.42 million tons, up 1.7%, down 1.3 percentage points. Alumina production 15.89 million tons, down 6.1%, an increase of 19.9% in the same period last year.

(D) the main downstream industries operating characteristics

1, the main downstream industry output in addition to cement, glass industry output fell slightly, other industries are still on the rise

In the first quarter, the main downstream industry output in addition to cement and flat glass fell 4.5% and 2.8% year-on-year, respectively, are on the rise. Among them.

National crude steel production increased by 5.4% year-on-year, the growth rate increased by 0.8 percentage points.

National production of ten non-ferrous metals rose 2.4% year-on-year, the growth rate fell by 6.6 percentage points. Among them, electrolytic aluminum production increased by 0.3% year-on-year, down 10.6 percentage points; copper production increased by 8.7% year-on-year, an increase of 1.4 percentage points; lead production increased by 11.1% year-on-year, an increase of 1.2 percentage points; zinc production increased by 1.7% year-on-year, a drop of 1.3 percentage points.

2, the main downstream industry product prices still maintain an upward trend

In March, the domestic market steel price composite index average of 113.84 points, down 0.93 points from the previous month, an increase of 8.51 points; cement prices rose 28.3% year-on-year; flat glass prices rose 5.1%; copper, electrolytic aluminum, lead, zinc average prices rose 8.5%, 1%, 0.2% and 11.4% year-on-year.

Fourth, the refractory industry production and operation characteristics of several issues should be noted

1, a large increase in production, but there are still many uncertainties.

In the first quarter, the production of refractory materials reversed the trend of nearly 2 years of continuous decline in operation, an increase of 11.08%. The main reason is that one is the previous year, the inventory of refractory products manufacturers fell sharply, the production base is low; second is that some varieties of rapid increase in demand, such as silicon bricks from the second half of last year, demand has been increasing, so far, there is a trend from supply exceeds demand to supply exceeds demand. In the first quarter, silica brick production increased by as much as 41.78% year-on-year. However, there are still many uncertainties, especially refractory materials for infrastructure projects, to pay attention to and respond to the ups and downs in demand to ensure the operation of enterprises.

2, to strictly control the new production capacity

Since 2017, due to the rising prices of refractory raw materials and the rapid expansion of individual refractory products market demand, stimulating some producers to increase investment in fixed assets and expand production capacity. The construction has been completed, the plan and more projects under construction, the momentum of investment and construction is still continuing.

At present, China's refractory raw materials and products of serious overcapacity is an indisputable fact, the estimated capacity utilization rate of less than 70%, some varieties may be lower, and then large-scale expansion of production capacity, will seriously affect the stability of the market order of refractory materials and production enterprises of their own interests.

Such as sintered magnesia and