First, industry overview: “The blood of industry” independent innovation is imperative

Industrial gases are called the “blood of industry”. According to the different application fields, industrial gases can be divided into two categories: bulk gases and special gases.

Bulk gas refers to industrial gases with purity requirements lower than 5N (99.999%) and large product production and sales. According to the different preparation methods can be divided into air separation gas and synthetic gas. Air separation gas is mainly produced by separating air, mainly including oxygen, nitrogen and argon, etc., and the downstream application field is wide and the amount is large. Synthetic gases mainly refer to ammonia, methane and acetylene, and the preparation method is completely different from that of air separation gases. Special gases refer to industrial gases that are applied to specific fields and have special requirements for purity, variety and nature, which can be divided into standard gases, medical gases, laser gases, food gases, electric light source gases and electronic special gases according to different application fields.

From the perspective of market demand, according to public information, in the domestic industrial gas demand in 2020, the demand for bulk gases accounts for the highest proportion, about 80%. The demand for special gases accounted for 20%, of which electronic special gas accounted for 60%. In recent years, with the rapid development of the domestic electronics industry and the promotion of relevant policies, the market share of special gases represented by electronic special gas is increasing year by year.

From the perspective of industrial structure, the upstream of the industrial gas industry chain mainly involves air separation equipment manufacturers and chemical raw material suppliers. The main downstream application areas are smelting, petrochemical, welding and metal processing. From the point of view of gas types, the downstream of bulk gases are mainly traditional industries such as metallurgy and chemical industry, with large gas demand and low gas purity requirements. The downstream of special gases involves emerging industries such as semiconductors, biomedicine, food and beverage, and new energy, with many types of gases in demand, small demand for individual gases, and high gas purity requirements.

According to Tianyan data, as of now, there are more than 3,050 industrial gas related enterprises; Among them, from January to October 2023, more than 60 related enterprises were newly registered;

In terms of geographical distribution, Jiangsu ranks first in the region with more than 480; Guangdong and Hebei have more than 370 and 180, ranking second and third respectively;

In terms of establishment time, 25.3% of related enterprises were established within 5 to 10 years, and 54.5% of related enterprises were established more than 10 years.

Second, market size: the domestic market size of 100 billion, showing an oligarchic competition pattern

With the growth of China’s economy, the GDP has maintained a high growth rate for a long time. The rapid expansion of the market, the continuous improvement of the industrial structure, and the rapid improvement of the industrial output value have brought about a huge demand for industrial gas products.

Global industrial gas supply and demand continue to grow. Due to the wide application of industrial gases in the industrial field, the demand of the global downstream industry has maintained a stable growth trend for a long time. According to Frost & Sullivan, the global industrial gases market will expand from about $134.8 billion in 2020 to about $175.5 billion in 2025, with a five-year CAGR of 5.4%.

China is the world’s largest industrial gas market, and its growth rate is in line with the overall industrial growth trend. China has overtaken the United States to become the world’s largest industrial gases market in 2020, with a market size of $23.7 billion in 2020, accounting for 17.6% of the global market. Compared with the growth rate of China’s industrial added value and the growth rate of the industrial gas industry in 2015, the growth rate of the industrial gas market largely depends on the overall development rhythm of the industry. According to Frost Sullivan, China’s industrial gas market will reach 232.5 billion yuan in 2025, with a five-year CAGR of 8.6%, compared with 3.8% CAGR in the United States, and China’s industrial gas market growth momentum is stronger.

The international industrial gas market share is mainly occupied by the two giants Linde and Air France. In terms of global industrial gas market share, Germany’s Linde and France’s Air Liquide industrial gas groups advanced hand in hand, with a global market share of 21% and 20% in 2021, respectively, while the second echelon of US Air Products and Japan’s Dayang Riacid Industrial Gas Company accounted for 7% and 5% in 2021, respectively.