In the last century, the field of carbon-free paper developer was deeply affected by the monopoly of foreign-funded enterprises. RUIFENG seized the opportunity to overcome technical difficulties and forced foreign companies to lose in the Chinese market.
Now, in the field of lubricant additives that the company has been cultivating for more than 20 years, RUIFENG has once again carried the banner of "import substitution" and will become a Chinese enterprise in this 100 billion market.
The world leader in carbonless paper developer, has been in the industry for more than 20 years
Established in 1996, Ruifeng's new RUIFENG material originally started as a developer for carbonless paper. When the company first entered this field, China's carbonless paper developer was mainly imported, and the suppliers were from the United States, Japan and other countries, and the prices were high. After China's domestically produced color-developing agents gradually overcome technical difficulties, imported brands have repeatedly cut prices.
More than 20 years of accumulation has enabled RUIFENG to stand out from many competitors and become China's largest non-carbon paper developer manufacturer.
In recent years, the global carbon-free paper market has developed to a relatively mature stage. In 2018, the total global carbon-free paper consumption was approximately 1.2 million tons. Affected by the trend of electronics and paperless, consumption in Europe and the United States has steadily declined. Although the growth rate of China's carbonless paper developer market is slowing down, the overall demand remains relatively stable with relatively small fluctuations. It is worth noting that China's per capita consumption of carbon-free paper is 0.25 kg, which is 1/4 of the per capita consumption of developed countries in Europe, America and Asia, and there is still a certain potential market space.
Break the traditional business ceiling and successfully enter the lubricant additive industry
In a mature market, the carbon-free paper developer business has quickly become RUIFENG's "cash cow" business segment. However, RUIFENG's senior management team did not "come to the status quo", but quickly realized the industry ceiling faced by the company's traditional superior business-carbonless paper developer business. RUIFENG looked for long-term profit growth when the business was booming.
Due to the high technical barriers and the wide domestic substitution space, the lubricant additive industry has been taken into consideration. In 1999, RUIFENG formally entered the field of lubricant additives.
As an indispensable chemical substance for the operation of automobiles and industrial equipment, lubricating oil is mainly used in automobile engine oil, railway engine oil, ship engine oil, industrial lubricating oil and other fields with a wide range of applications. In terms of composition, lubricating oil is mainly composed of lubricating oil additives and base oil. Among them, lubricant additives generally account for about 2% to 30% of the total lubricant oil, and the rest is mainly base oil.
Although the overall weight is less than the base oil, the lubricant additives play a decisive role in the overall performance of the lubricant, and its manufacturing difficulty and technical content are much higher than that of the base oil. Similar to the field of carbonless paper developer, lubricant additives are also an industry with high technical barriers and high capital barriers.
When RUIFENG first entered the lubricant additive industry, this industry was also monopolized by international giants. Since the late 1990s, the international lubricating oil additives market has maintained a long-term situation where four American companies have long controlled about 85% of the global market share. If Chinese companies want to enter this field, they will not only face extremely high technical barriers, but will also bear high certification costs.
At the beginning of RUIFENG's development of lubricant additives, the investment in research and development costs was very high, and the profit of the company's carbonless paper developer business just provided strong financial support for the research and development of lubricant additives. With the support of the carbon-free paper developer business, RUIFENG's lubricant additive business has accumulated for many years. At present, its technical strength has reached the top domestic level, and it can even compete with international giants in some areas.
Relying on years of accumulation in the field of lubricant additives, RUIFENG has successfully broken the revenue bottleneck caused by a single business. At present, RUIFENG's traditional carbonless paper developer is still operating steadily, but it has retreated to the company's second main business. In 2019, the lubricant additives business accounted for nearly 90% of RUIFENG's total revenue, and the revenue scale was about 7 times that of the carbonless paper developer business.
From the perspective of the future market space, since the 1930s, the global lubricant additive industry has gradually developed to a relatively mature stage, with a relatively large market scale and basically tending to grow steadily. But for Chinese companies, the market potential of lubricant additives industry is still limitless.
新乡市瑞丰新材料股份有限公司