Present situation and prospect of artificial products industry

Since the founding of New China, China's artificial products industry has developed greatly. Especially in the past 30 years of reform and opening up, with the acceleration of economic, political, cultural and social construction in Socialism with Chinese characteristics, people's living standards have been continuously improved. In order to meet people's needs, the jewelry market has been continuously explored and developed. As an important part of the jewelry and jade jewelry industry, the artificial products industry also presents a gratifying scene of vigorous development.

1. The output of artificial products in China ranks among the top in the world.

Since 1958 introduced the technology of synthesizing ruby by flame melting from the Soviet Union, it has been produced in artificial products for more than 50 years. Over the past half century, China's artificial products industry has developed rapidly, and the output of artificial products has advanced by leaps and bounds, and many products have reached the first place in the world. According to the latest incomplete statistics, the production capacity of synthetic cubic zirconia, which belongs to synthetic gemstones, reaches 6.5438+0.2 million tons, which can fully meet the market demand; The annual output of synthetic crystals is about 1760 tons; The annual output of ruby and sapphire synthesized by flame melting method is more than 27 1 ton; The annual output of synthetic industrial diamonds is 4 billion carats, and the output of these synthetic gems is undoubtedly the first in the world. Among the man-made products in artificial gem, glassy imitation gold star stone, synthetic luminous jade, glassy imitation cat's eye, and high refractive index glassy gem modified by rare earth elements (commonly known as rare earth glass) are all invented or innovated by Chinese scientific and technological personnel, and their output ranks first in the world. According to the above facts, China's output of artificial products has been in the forefront of the world.

2. General situation of producing areas of main raw materials for artificial products in China.

The production fields of cubic zirconia, ruby, crystal, emerald, industrial diamond, rare earth glass and other gemstone raw materials in China are as follows:

Figure 1-4- 1 Synthesis of cubic zirconia crystals

Synthesis of (1) cubic zirconia

Synthetic cubic zirconia crystal production enterprises are mainly concentrated in Guangxi, Sichuan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and other provinces; According to the incomplete statistics of June 5438+1October, 2009, * * * there are 16 enterprises producing 200 high frequency furnace, and each high frequency furnace produces 400 kilograms at a time. According to the monthly output of 5 tons, the annual production capacity is1.2000 tons, but the current market demand is around 3600 tons, and most enterprises produce according to orders. The largest enterprise owns 37 high frequency furnace sets with an annual production capacity of 2,220 tons. At present, enterprises have installed high frequency furnace with a capacity of 600 kg per furnace, and the largest single crystal is 5 kg, which is very gratifying. The powder raw materials for synthesizing cubic zirconia are mainly produced in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Fujian.

(2) The manufacturers of ruby and sapphire synthesized by flame melting method are located in Quzhou, Xiaoshan, Zhejiang Province, Pingnan County, Fujian Province, Yantai, Jiangsu Province, Suzhou, Xi and Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province, Hefei, Anhui Province, Zhenning County, Guizhou Province, Changshou City, Sichuan Province, Chongqing City and Qianyang County, Hunan Province. Mainly produces rubies and colorless sapphires (mainly used for surface coverings that never wear out). According to incomplete statistics in 2009, there are 10 production enterprises in China, with annual output exceeding 27 1 ton. The base of producing spinel by flame melting method is Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province.

(3) Hydrothermal synthesis of emeralds, rubies and sapphires was successfully studied by Guangxi Gemological Research Institute in 1990s, with an annual output of about 7,000 carats at the peak. At present, we are switching to high-tech industrial crystals, but if there is an order, we can resume the production of gem crystals at any time.

(4) Synthetic crystals are widely used in the radio industry, and the export volume is also very large. In addition, the crystal synthesis production process is mature, so the production enterprises are widely distributed, and many provinces and cities have production, but the largest enterprise is in Jiaojiang City, Zhejiang Province.

Fig. 65438 +0-4-2 spinel crystal synthesized by flame melting method

Figure 1-4-3 Red Series Corundum Gemstone Crystal Grown by Hydrothermal Method

Figure 1-4-4 Hydrothermal crystallization out of the kettle

Figure 1-4-5 Cat's Eye Products after Glass Fiber Block Polishing

(5) At present, the synthetic diamond in China is mainly small industrial particles, but the research on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been carried out in China, and the diamond weighing 10 carat has been synthesized by this method abroad. The edge of gem-grade diamond synthesized by high temperature and ultra-high pressure method in Jilin University is 7 mm There are about 5,000 industrial diamond production enterprises in China, which are distributed all over the country. Among them, about 450 enterprises produce single-particle industrial-grade diamonds, which have strong production capacity and large output. According to the latest data, 5 billion carats of industrial diamonds are produced in the world every year, of which 4 billion carats are produced in China, accounting for 80% of the global total production. However, in terms of output and quality, we still have a certain gap compared with the United States, Russia and other countries.

(6) The glassy imitation cat's eye gemstone was developed by Shanghai Silicate Research Institute of China Academy of Sciences. After technology transfer, the production base of raw materials and semi-finished products is mainly in Jingjiang City, Jiangsu Province, and the processing base of finished products is mainly in Putian County, Fujian Province. The annual output exceeds 1200 tons.

(7) Rare earth glass is a unique variety in China, and its production base is in Shanghai. Rare earth glass is brightly colored and can imitate the colors of many precious stones.

(8) The glass imitation gold star stone was originally produced in Beijing, with a maximum annual output of 600 tons, and now it has been moved to Hebei Province. This technology has been spread abroad and found in many parts of the country, but the scale is small and the quality is not as good as that made in Beijing.

(9) The "Qinglong Luminous Jade" with luminous effect is produced in Beijing, with an annual output of about 16 tons.

(10) Lead glass used to imitate gems is produced in Shanghai and Chengdu, Sichuan, and ordinary glass is produced all over the country, with a very large output. Only in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province, the owner of the factory believes that 300 tons of various glass raw materials enter Pujiang every day, and more than 200 tons of processed products are shipped out of Pujiang every day, among which there are many glass products for building and decoration.

Other artificial products, such as Czochralski method and guided die method, have a small output and will not be introduced one by one.

3. China Artifacts Processing Industry

There must be a processing link from raw materials of artificial products to jewelry or ornaments of artificial products. China's artificial products are mainly cut and ground in Wuzhou, Guangxi. At the 6th Wuzhou International Gem Festival in 2009, the government announced that/kloc-0.2 million people are engaged in cutting and grinding, inlaying and marketing of artificial products every year, and/kloc-0.36 billion synthetic cubic zirconia-based artificial products are cut and ground every year. In addition, Ya 'an, Sichuan and Wanzhou, Chongqing have also become emerging production and processing areas for man-made products, with hundreds of gem cutting and grinding equipment in each place. The formation of these bases has largely solved the problems of some Three Gorges immigrants and surplus labor, and social and economic benefits will gradually emerge.

Generally speaking, factories that produce synthetic gem crystals have cutting and grinding workshops, and there are hundreds of gem cutting and grinding machines on a larger scale. In addition, there are hundreds of gem cutting and grinding machines all over the country, and there are also many units.

Wuzhou people have done a good job in upgrading the gem cutting and grinding machine and obtained a number of utility model patents. At present, semi-automatic gem cutting and grinding machine has been gradually popularized in Wuzhou. According to reports, one person can operate three semi-automatic gem cutting and grinding machines, and each person can produce 3,000 finished products every day, up to 6,000, which greatly improves the productivity.

For the processing of glass raw materials, round particles are generally the main ones. The equipment for cutting and grinding more than six grains at a time has been applied several years ago, and the vibration polishing machine for one-time polishing 10 kg has also been widely used. It is reported that farmers and entrepreneurs in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province have introduced two sets of automatic processing equipment for glass imitation gems from Austria and the Czech Republic, which can produce 400,000 rhinestones per hour. If the production line is put into production, the production of diamond imitation gems in China will greatly increase.

Artifacts can only become final products when they are processed into jewelry or various ornaments, which is also the most widely used aspect of artifacts. There are 300,000 people engaged in the processing and marketing of ornaments in China, which reflects the prosperity of the artificial products industry. The deep processing enterprises of artificial products are mainly concentrated in Yiwu, Zhejiang, and Wuzhou, Guangxi has gradually introduced deep processing enterprises.

It is only in recent years that the raw materials of artificial products have been used for carving, making it a very special and exquisite work of art. Wang Jinlan, the former director of the figure workshop of Beijing Jade General Factory and an arts and crafts artist, boldly tried to create exquisite jade carving crafts on artificial products, which was loved by everyone. In 2009, he participated in the "Tiangong Award" and won the Best Craft Award.

4. China Artificial Products Trade Distribution Center

The variety and output of artificial products in China are constantly expanding, and the market is also expanding. Raw materials and semi-finished products of man-made products, as well as jewelry and fashionable ornaments with man-made products as the main raw materials, have gradually formed a distribution center with obvious industrial cluster effect and formed several characteristic bases.

4. 1 industrial base with characteristics of artificial products-Wuzhou, Guangxi

Since 1982, Hong Kong businessman Cui Fuming opened the first gem processing factory in Wuzhou, with the advantages of cheap labor, good investment environment and low water and electricity prices, Wuzhou's artificial product material processing business has developed rapidly. With the increasing prosperity of the world economy, the demand for man-made products is increasing, and the market of man-made products in Wuzhou is also changing. Merchants outsource orders to gem processing farmers (family workshops), and some farmers gradually develop into small processing plants.

Up to now, there are more than10,000 employees in the artificial products industry in Wuzhou, which has solved the big problem of poverty alleviation and surplus labor force in Wuzhou. With the strong support of Wuzhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the artificial products industry has developed into a business card industry in Wuzhou, and Wuzhou has gradually developed into a processing and trade distribution center for artificial products in China and even the world.

Wuzhou processes about 654.38+036 billion gems every year, and the main products are cubic zirconia and ruby synthesized by flame melting, accounting for about 80% of China's processing capacity and 70% of the world's. With the rapid development of Wuzhou's artificial products processing market, trade, as an important part of the industrial chain, has appeared in Wuzhou and its scale has been expanding. In order to solve the situation that there is no market, the municipal government has successively invested in the construction of Wuzhou Gem City and Gem Building, completing the transformation of Wuzhou man-made products industry from decentralization to intensification. Wuzhou not only gathers domestic buyers, including those from Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces; At the same time, it has attracted a large number of overseas buyers from India, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Italy, the United States and other countries. Among them, Thailand and other ASEAN countries are the main trading partners of Wuzhou artificial products, and more than 400 gem enterprises in Wuzhou have established fixed contacts with the jewelry markets of Thailand and other ASEAN countries. Since 2004, China Jewelry and Jade Jewelry Industry Association and Wuzhou Municipal Government have jointly held the 6th Wuzhou International Gem Festival, which greatly enhanced the visibility of Wuzhou. In 2007, Wuzhou was awarded the honorary title of characteristic industrial base of artificial products.

4.2 World Commodity Capital-Yiwu, Zhejiang

China Commodity City, located in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, was founded in 1982, with a business area of more than 4 million square meters, and consists of three major market groups: International Trade City, Huangyuan Market and Wang Bin Market. The jewelry industry with artificial products as the main raw material is located in the first district of International Trade City, with an operating area of 85,000 square meters. On the second and third floors, there are about 4,000 enterprises engaged in man-made products and jewelry. Man-made products The products here are mainly artificial gem-like glass imitation gems, among which glass imitation diamonds (commonly known as rhinestones) have a large trading volume. A few are synthetic cubic zirconia, synthetic rubies, low-grade semi-precious stones and plastic products.

4.3 Northern Artificial Products Trading Base-Qingdao

Qingdao is adjacent to Korea and Japan. Since the mid-1980s, Korean jewelry enterprises, especially jewelry enterprises, have gradually settled in Qingdao, set up processing plants and gradually formed industrial clusters. According to reports, Qingdao wholesale market is mainly concentrated in Jimo small commodity wholesale market near Zhongshan Road in Qingdao, while professional retail is mainly distributed in Weihai Road Commercial Pedestrian Street. According to the survey, there are 9265 jewelry enterprises and business households in Qingdao, including 1.900 manufacturing enterprises. Korean manufacturers account for 70%, about 1300. Jewelry production enterprises are mainly concentrated in Qingdao Huangdao Development Zone and Qingdao Chengyang District. Chengyang District of Qingdao is the main concentration area of jewelry enterprises.

As one of the important raw materials of jewelry, man-made products have settled in Qingdao, and Qingdao's position as a sales base of man-made products in northern China has gradually emerged.

5. The market of man-made products in 2008 and 2009.

The final consumption market of China's artificial products is mostly concentrated in Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. The arrival of the financial crisis in 2008 has brought great impact to the artificial products industry in China. Since the second half of 2008, the impact of artificial products on export-oriented enterprises has gradually manifested, the most obvious being the sharp reduction of export orders. Some operators who can't stand the pressure sell goods at low prices, and some even switch to other industries. The most difficult period should be the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. The trading volume of artificial products is only 50% at the end of 2007, and the market that should be prosperous appears depressed and deserted. Taking Wuzhou, Guangxi as an example, a large number of merchants engaged in man-made products withdrew their cabinets, and a large number of "vacant rooms" appeared in the original "full" gem city. The number of foreign offices originally stationed in Wuzhou for procurement has been reduced from more than 20 to less than 10. Because the profit margin of the product is very small, the price has not changed much, but the production and sales volume have dropped significantly. For example, according to the author's investigation, the prices of synthetic cubic zirconia crystals and faceted gems have not changed significantly, but the production and sales volume in 2009 is only about 60% of that in 2008. Most crystal factories have stopped working, and are concentrating on selling their stocks to minimize operational risks. According to the current market demand, most factories will start in April of 20 10. The impact of the financial crisis on the whole industry is still quite obvious.

Table 1-4- 1 A+B price comparison table for synthetic cubic zirconia crystals

Table 1-4-2 AAA white synthetic cubic zirconia faceted gemstone price comparison table

With the gradual stabilization of the economic crisis, the artificial products industry is slowly recovering. By June 5438+00, 2009, the situation was obviously improved. The shops in Gem City are "full" again, and the number of foreign institutions in Wuzhou has risen to more than 17. In June 2009, the transaction volume of artificial products was significantly better than that in the first half of the year. On the blackboard in front of the Gem City store, there are good news such as "urgent need of ×× gems" and "cash purchase of ×× gems".

Step up a flight of stairs and look at the road ahead

6. 1 strive to improve and improve the processing and grinding technology and equipment in artificial products.

Artifact industry belongs to labor-intensive industry. If China's artificial products industry wants to take a leading position in processing and grinding, it must gradually break away from the manual processing mode based on cheap labor, integrate the existing technical personnel and capital resources as soon as possible, speed up the transformation process of semi-mechanization and mechanization, and improve the competitiveness of products in the international market.

6.2 Strengthen brand building and improve product competitiveness

There are few brand companies with industrial strength in artificial products, the overall management level is low, and the phenomenon of disorderly competition is obvious. Although China is a big country of artificial products in the world, its right to speak is far from enough. In the face of opportunities and challenges, it is inevitable for China enterprises to take the road of innovation, implement brand strategy and enhance their international competitiveness.

6.3 Pay attention to sustainable development

The sustainable development of artificial products industry in China is a problem that can not be ignored. Two problems can't be ignored if artificial products enterprises want to develop sustainably. First, the problem of innovation: when an enterprise develops to a certain scale, it needs to invest a lot of money and manpower, improve its independent research and innovation ability, and constantly innovate. It is not satisfied with just adapting to the market demand, but also leading the development of the market. Only in this way can we achieve real sustainable development. The second is to pay attention to environmental protection. The environmental protection problem closely related to industry in artificial products is heavy metal pollution, and the main heavy metal pollution source involved is lead. Lead can enter the human body through skin contact, oral cavity and respiratory tract. After lead enters the human body, it can be compatible with many organs and cause damage to nerves, blood vessels, digestive tract, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. In addition, because the price of lead is not very high, the recycling of waste lead-containing glass has not been carried out, and waste lead-containing glass will have an irreversible impact on the environment, which should attract our attention.

7. Good development prospects

In the long river of human history, economic crisis is only a short-lived behavior at a certain stage, but artificial products, as an element that adorns people's lives, will develop with the development of human history. At the same time, with the progress of society, the demand for artificial products will be diversified and the market prospect will be very broad.

With the economic recovery, the strong demand in the international and domestic markets will slowly pick up. People will choose their favorite decorative ornaments because of different environments and different costumes. If the average person in the world chooses an ornament, the demand for artificial products is also a considerable data. In addition, artificial products are one of the important raw materials of fashion, such as well-known dance costumes and national costumes, and there is a great demand for artificial products. At the same time, the prospect of artificial products used in science and technology, architecture and industry is also very broad. For example, synthetic spinel can be used as LED light source material, and colorless corundum synthesized by Czochralski method can be used as missile window material and LED light source material. At present, domestic LED substrates are basically imported, with a large gap.

Objectively speaking, artificial products have a good industrial development prospect.