Abrasives Industry Development Situation in Henan Province

China is at the forefront no matter in terms of abrasives consumption or manufacturing field. After several decades of development, China has gradually become a manufacturing and exporting country of abrasives and abrasives products, the sales volume of which has been on the rise at a speed of 10% annually. According to statistics, there are 1,290 abrasives companies whose output value is over ￥20,000,000. Despite the achievements in China's abrasives industry, problems still exist during the development stage. An ever-increasing gap between China and developed countries lies in high value-added products.

Henan Province has been famous as a big abrasives manufacturing province and the cradle of nurturing talented people of the industry. Productivity of brown fused alumina in Henan Province accounts for a half of the whole country. Since 1963 when China's first synthetic diamond was born, Henan has become the base for China's superhard materials R&D center and technical personnel.

In 2014, the productivity of China's brown fused alumina was around 4,300,000 tons, white fused alumina was approximately 1,450,000 tons, black silicon carbide was 1,000,000 tons or so, and green silicon carbide was about 1,300,000 tons. However, overcapacity, single product mix, and low technical content remain major problems in China's abrasives industry. Besides that, a majority of abrasive companies are poor in innovation and lack of market competitive force, the only measure to survive is to reduce price.

Fused alumina

Fused alumina manufacturers in Henan Province are distributed mainly in Yichuan, Dengfeng, and Sanmenxia.

Yichuan County has been recognized as on of the three abrasives bases. After three decades of constant exploration and innovation, Yichuan's brown fused alumina production capacity and export volume rank the top in China's abrasives industry. Currently, there are more than 180 abrasives manufacturers in Yichuan, including the long-established DOMILL Abrasives Co., Ltd. and YiChuan County ShengYu Fireproof Material Co., Ltd. Major abrasives in Yichuan include brown fused alumina, white fused alumina, sub-white fused alumina, silicon carbide, ultrafine mircro powder, and calcined abrasives. As early as a decade ago, the export volume of Yichuan abrasives were one-third of the whole country, and over 16% of world abrasives market share. Other suppliers of fused alumina include Dengfeng Liaoyuan Abrasives Factory and Sanmenxia Mingzhu Electric Metallurgical Co., Ltd.

Silicon carbide

Henan Province is one of the major silicon carbide manufacturing bases in China. There are numerous silicon carbide manufacturers in Pingdingshan, Xuchang, and Jiaozuo, such as Henan Yuxin Abrasives Co,. Ltd., Qinyang Sanhui Refractory Material Co., Ltd., etc. According to report, as over 90% of silicon carbide smelting companies in Henan Province have switched to machining industry, abrasives products, and refractory materials industry, silicon carbide smelting industry is declining. 

With the advancement in aerospace and military industry, alternative fuel vehicles, intelligrid, LED, and energy efficient appliances, silicon carbide has been witnessing a wider application prospects. To achieve better development, abrasives companies should attach more importance to precision machining to produce high value-added products. Grouplization is also a good choice.