Resumen de A rock and a hard place
Demand for refractory products is evolving, forcing suppliers to upgrade their offers and processes to stay ahead of the game, while Chinese-origin raw materials are appreciating on the back of supply shortages, making productions costlier, Davide Ghilotti, IM Chief Reporter, finds.
The refractory industry has come to find itself between a rock and a hard place, faced with challenges on the supply side as well as in end markets.
While total demand for refractory products continues to reduce in the face of readjusting steel output, production is also moving downwards. For their part, suppliers cannot afford to stand still but must innovate, revisit their current models, relentlessly pursuing new markets and securing new business.
At the same time, a number of raw materials markets have become increasingly short in supply: magnesia, alumina, bauxite and graphite are only a few among several commodities affected, with drastic effects on prices.
This is triggering a rise in sourcing costs, denting refractory producers' margins at a time of weak end-market consumption.
Monolithic refractories are having an overall better ride amid these tough times, compared with bricks and basic shaped refractories, but the challenges for the industry are there for all to see.
