① Jiangsu Thorpe expects to achieve net profit of 15 million yuan to 20 million yuan in 2023, a decrease of 485 million yuan to 490 million yuan compared with the same period last year, and a year-on-year decrease of 96.04% to 97.03%. ② The direction of adjustment of the glacial acetic acid industry as a whole is clearly shifting to an “oversupply” structure. In the fourth quarter of last year alone, new installations by Hualu Hengsheng Jingzhou and Dalian Hengli were put into operation one after another.
Financial Services Association, January 29 (Reporter Zhao Zixiang) Although the results of the second half of last year “caught up”, erasing losses and achieving profits in the first half of the year, against the backdrop of falling prices of acetic acid products, Jiangsu Thorpe (600746.SH) expects net profit for the full year of 2023 to record the biggest decline in nearly three years.
Tonight, Jiangsu Thorpe released a performance forecast showing that net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is expected to be between 15 million yuan and 20 million yuan in 2023, a decrease of 485 million yuan to 490 million yuan compared with the same period last year, and a year-on-year decrease of 96.04% to 97.03%.
From a profit of more than 500 million yuan last year to 12 million this year, Jiangsu Sopcan achieved a break-even balance. Regarding the pre-decline in performance, Jiangsu Thorpe announced that in 2023, the prices of the company's main raw materials were high and product prices fell, causing the company's 2023 business performance to decline year-on-year.
A Finance Association reporter noticed that in the first half of 2023, Jiangsu Thorpe achieved a net profit loss of 256 million yuan. At the time, the company announced that during the reporting period, the prosperity of the chemical industry declined, consumption of the company's main products, acetic acid and derivatives, as well as terminals such as chlor-alkali and sulfuric acid, was weak and demand was insufficient, and product prices dropped sharply. The price of coal, the main raw material, remains high.
According to information, the domestic glacial acetic acid market in the first half of 2023 was mostly dominated by range-bound fluctuations. Taking the Jiangsu market as an example, prices hovered between 2,800 and 3150 yuan/ton. Among them, the lowest price was at the end of June, and the highest price was 3125 yuan/ton in mid-May, with a price difference of 325 yuan/ton. The performance of many major acetic acid manufacturers showed obvious pressure during this period.
However, Jiangsu Thorpe achieved a single quarter profit of 107 million yuan in the third quarter of 2023 and narrowed the overall loss for the first three quarters to -149 million yuan. According to this estimate, in the fourth quarter of last year, Jiangsu Thorpe also achieved net profit of more than 150 million yuan in a single quarter.
But even so, due to the objective situation in the acetic acid market in 2023, Jiangsu Thorpe's annual report card is unsatisfactory. Regarding the price performance of acetic acid products last year, Guo Xun, senior acetic acid analyst at Zhuochuang News, told the Financial Federation reporter in an interview that acetic acid maintained a high price level in 2021, mainly driven by the concentration of multiple benefits. Since then, market support has weakened, so prices have been declining rationally for the past two years.
A chemical industry insider told the Financial Federation reporter that in 2023, the domestic glacial acetic acid market hovered near the cost line for most of the time, but there was a period of increase in the market in the second half of the year, mainly due to factors such as a decrease in the supply side due to partial capacity maintenance, and the market once rose to a high point during the year in the third quarter.
However, at the same time, the glacial acetic acid industry as a whole is clearly shifting towards an “oversupply” structure. In the fourth quarter of last year alone, new installations by Hualu Hengsheng Jingzhou and Dalian Hengli were put into operation one after another.
Perhaps considering that the acetic acid business is becoming more and more “difficult to do”, Jiangsu Thorpe announced on the evening of December 8 last year that it plans to invest in an integrated vinyl acetate and EVA project in the Zhenjiang New Area New Material Park, with a total investment of about 7.128 billion yuan. The first phase is the 330,000 tons/year vinyl acetate project, and the second phase is the 300,000 tons/year EVA project.
Jiangsu Thorpe stated in the above announcement that the investment and construction of this project is a judgment made by the company based on the current market situation and industry prospects, taking into account the company's existing business synergies and strategic positioning. After the project is completed and put into operation, it will help optimize the company's product structure and further enhance the company's overall competitiveness and resilience to risks.