Global orders for new ships increased by nearly 300%, and the shipbuilding market cycle has turned around.

At present, the increase in order volume did not quickly drive the performance of shipbuilding companies to reverse, China Shipbuilding, China Heavy Industry and other listed companies in the first half of the net profit withholding is still in a state of loss. This is related to the order cycle, and the revenue recognized this year may come from orders made two years ago. Among the three main ship types, bulk carriers generally take about 10-12 months from the start to the delivery of the ship, container ships generally take about 12-14 months from the start to the delivery of the ship, and crude oil ships generally take about 10-12 months from the start to the delivery of the ship.

Due to the different transport markets corresponding to the three major ship types, the demand situation of various ship types is also different, at present, the demand of container ships and bulk carriers is better than that of oil tankers.

A shipping industry practitioners told reporters that countries through infrastructure investment to drive economic growth, bringing a large demand for iron ore, coal and other raw materials, with the bulk transport market, in fact, the BDI index has hit a new high in 11 years, at the same time, the supply of bulk carriers is more serious. For the oil market, the market also has expectations - the oil market may enter a high boom next year, when the demand for oil tankers is expected to increase, and the three major ship types may have a resonance effect.

The cost problem restricts the shipyard profit level

For shipbuilders, there are also some risk factors, including the rise in the price of Marine steel, exchange rate fluctuations, and rising labor costs. The data obtained by the reporter show that in the first half of the year, the gross profit margin of China's main ship business was 9.87%, an increase of 1.37 percentage points year-on-year, and the gross profit margin of China Heavy Industry was 7.65%, an increase of 1.9 percentage points year-on-year. As mentioned above, from January to July, the price of new ships rose by about 15%, and the gross profit margin of shipbuilding increased slightly, but the cost inevitably eroded some profits.

Data from the China Shipbuilding Industry Association also show that from January to August, 75 key monitoring ship enterprises achieved main business income of 193.2 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3%, but the total profit was only 990 million yuan, down 14.7%.

Taking South Korean shipbuilding industry data as an example, not long ago, PoSCO and South Korea's three major shipbuilding companies for the second half of this year to increase the sales price of more than 6 mm of shipbuilding thick steel plate ended negotiations, on the price of about 1.1 million won per ton, about 6100 yuan, an increase of about 40% to 60%, and Marine steel in shipbuilding production costs accounted for about 20%.

The shipping industry is highly integrated with the steel industry, and the steel industry is an important part of the supply chain of the shipbuilding industry. At the same time, as the downstream of the steel industry, the shipbuilding industry is a large consumer of the steel industry. The reporter noted that in the face of fluctuations in the price of Marine steel, exchanges between domestic shipping companies and steel companies have also begun to increase.

In May this year, the person in charge of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry visited Xiangsteel and put forward expectations for building a long-term and stable strategic cooperative partnership between the two sides and creating a green, healthy and sustainable industrial chain cooperation model. In September, the person in charge of Nangang Group visited COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, and the two sides exchanged views on building a safe, mutually beneficial and stable supply chain relationship and jointly coping with market risks.

Last month, Anshan Steel and Bensteel restructuring, the reorganization, China State Shipbuilding Group sent a congratulatory letter to Angang and mentioned that Angang in the price advantage is obvious, the shipyard has made a greater contribution to the cost reduction, Chinese ships from Angang steel annual purchase of more than 1 million tons of steel; After the reorganization of Anben, the two sides will study and launch high-tech, cost-effective Marine steel products, hoping that Ansteel will continue to provide obvious cost advantages, stable, safe, fast and efficient products and services.

"The main factors affecting shipbuilders' profits are upstream raw materials and labor costs." Zhang Chao told reporters that in the first half of the year, the prices of commodities such as iron ore, copper and aluminum rose rapidly, and Marine materials hit a new high in nearly ten years, which affected the profitability of shipyards to a certain extent. Combined with the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic, labor costs have risen, which has a certain impact on ship prices and shipbuilding costs.

Data show that since the beginning of this year, the domestic 6mm shipbuilding plate and 20mm shipbuilding plate prices once reached 7590 yuan/ton and 7120 yuan/ton, up 70.9% and 79.3% year-on-year, and Marine cables once rose to 76900 yuan/ton, up 56.5% year-on-year.