Insight into the future of China's lubricants market

Recently, at the 12th China International Lubricants and Applied Technology Exhibition held in Beijing, nearly 120 lubricant companies and brands from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other countries and regions were competing with Tai Jingyan, Sinopec. Leaders, experts and scholars from leading companies such as Lubricating Oil Company, Mobil, Dow, and American Petroleum Institute, and industry experts gathered to discuss the wisdom of the industry in the form of forums and explore the best practices for the development of the industry. confidence.

Competition rules under market concentration

Over the past few years, the concentration of China's lubricants market has become increasingly concentrated. From the perspective of the global lubricants market, the world’s 15 largest lubricant manufacturers, such as Mobil, Shell, and Sinopec Lubricants, accounted for only 1% of the total number of lubricant manufacturers, but controlled more than 60% of global lubricants. Sales volume shows that market concentration is the trend of the lubricant industry. Where do you go from here? This is not only a difficult choice for small and medium-sized enterprises, but also a problem that large enterprises have to ponder deeply under the increasingly fierce competition.

As the head of China's top-grade lubricants enterprises, Song Yunchang, general manager of Sinopec Lubricants, once foresaw the evolution of the Chinese lube oil market five years ago, and also saw the nature of competition in the industry chain. He believes that the pattern of coordinated development of the lubricating oil industry chain will further deepen, extending to the base oil, additives and other industries, and extending downwards to the marketing channels and the automotive aftermarket services related to the lubricants.

At present, some private enterprises have begun to enter the lube base oil production sector and seek resource control. Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation have increased their input in the production of refined base oils and additives, as well as the terminal related to vehicle oil change. The scale of the service industry has also been continuously expanded and extended. Lubricant manufacturers are also producing and selling automotive chemicals.

The layout of the industrial chain is the key path for the lubricant companies to reach the future. This requires a clear strategy and sufficient financial support. It also destines the value weights of the back-end technologies and front-end brands. At the 2011 China International Lubricants Industry Development Summit Forum, Song Yunchang stated: “The influence of the brand and the control of technology are the indispensable core elements of competition in the industry chain. With the brand as the guarantee, with technology as the market, it can be formed. The competitive advantage of the popular market is also the guarantee for satisfying the individualized and diverse needs of many market segments."

Brand Influence: The Global Seashore

Many lubricating oil companies have such confusion: Why is the product sales volume good, but the company does not have much profit? Why do some companies stagnate or even fall back after a period of scale expansion, while Shell, Mobil and other international first-line companies account for more than half of the high-end market, Great Wall Lubricants, Kunlun Lubricants are increasingly dominant?

The root of the problem lies in the brand, and the brand in front of the industrial chain is the pinnacle of the company.

Taking Great Wall Lubricants as an example, Great Wall Lubricants won the top spot in China's lubricants industry for 8 consecutive years on the "China's Top 500 Most Valuable Brand Lists" released by the World Brand Lab, and they have formed aerospace strategy." "Aerospace quality" has become a "strong brand" with a core competitive advantage in China's lubricants market. It has a wide range of awareness and acceptance among users in all walks of life, and has also created the market position of China's largest lubricant manufacturer.

From the perspective of the competition between large-scale enterprises and SMEs, it is undeniable that although large-scale enterprises account for most of the market share and many companies have unique competitive advantages in a regional market and market segment, such boundaries are ambiguous. With the improvement of these large-scale enterprise channel systems and the advancement of market segmentation strategies, SMEs need to form unique and distinctive brand influences in order to compete with them. If we look at boosting China's domestic lubricants industry, brand building is even more urgent. Although China's domestic lubricant companies have undergone more than 10 years of development, there has been a fundamental change in the balance of power with international companies. However, it cannot be avoided that the high-end automotive oil market, which represents the brand image of lubricants, is still lubricated in China. Oil brand weaknesses.

Technology control: homophonic common law following industry trends

Lubricants have the characteristics of both industrial products and consumer products. The customers they serve have both the popular market demand and the uniqueness and diversity of special lubrication. This largely determines the homogeneity of lubricant technology and all walks of life. The importance and complexity.

At present, China has embarked on the development path of new industrialization. The level of technology that is being manufactured in China is continuously improving, and the equipment used by industrial enterprises tends to be large-scale and refined, and higher performance requirements are imposed on lubricants. As China's aerospace, high-speed railway and other areas of high-end technology applications improve, the corresponding lubrication system also needs to be upgraded. This requires China's lubricant companies to improve their own technology control capabilities, the development of new technologies and new products, which is both an opportunity and responsibility.

Take China's metal processing industry as an example, more and more new metal processing equipment, new technologies and new processes have been applied in domestic enterprises, and there are many kinds of mechanical equipment in metallurgical enterprises, with complex oil, equipment lubrication, and process lubrication. This poses many challenges to the diversification, multi-functionality, and environmental protection of lubricants.

It is understood that this form of cross-border cooperation has become an important technology research and development model for China's lubricant industry. Great Wall Lubricant has achieved outstanding performance in this area. Through cross-border cooperation, it has established joint laboratories with companies in the automotive and steel industries to develop special lubricant products for customers in the industry. This has enabled Great Wall Lubricant to have a strong technical control in various industries. All industries have great technical competitive advantages. For example, in the automotive industry, Great Wall Lubricant has a market share of 65% in the vehicle oil loading and service oil markets through this technology cooperation model.

In fact, the control of technology has an irreplaceable importance in the industry chain competition. Apart from the dynamic development needs of relevant industries, it is also inseparable from the current mainstream of low-carbon and energy-saving era. Both experts and scholars, as well as lubricant companies, have emphasized the need for base oils, additive formulations, etc. to meet the trend of low-carbon and energy-saving, with higher fuel economy, longer oil change intervals, and higher energy efficiency and efficiency. The green lubricants in the harsh operating environment will become the "flowers of the future" in the future market, which is obviously the only way for the lubricant companies to move into the future.