The demand for thermal paper is growing rapidly, and the profit level of three-proof thermal paper is high

Thermal paper refers to a kind of information recording paper that is coated with a layer of color-forming material and can develop color by itself after being excited by a thermal signal. Classified by function, it can be divided into ordinary thermal paper and three-proof thermal paper. Ordinary thermal paper refers to thermal paper that has no protective layer on the surface and does not require a high shelf life; three-proof thermal paper refers to thermal paper that is waterproof, oil-proof and anti-friction.

Compared with ordinary paper, thermal paper has a layer of "heat-sensitive paint" on the surface. It has the advantages of fast printing speed, low printing noise, no need to replace the ribbon, high definition and suitable for barcode recognition when printing and recording information. It is widely used in retail , gaming, finance, clothing, logistics, postal services, medical care, transportation and many other fields, specifically including logistics labels, courier orders and other recording papers containing personal information; supermarket cashier receipts, price labels, special paper for queuing machines, movie tickets , train tickets, boarding passes, household gas, water and electricity bills and other bills that do not need to be stored for a long time.

My country's thermal paper started late. In 2003, my country's thermal paper production was about 10,000 tons, with 4 manufacturers; by 2018, my country's thermal paper production exceeded 700,000 tons, and the number of manufacturers increased to 288.

In recent years, the growth of consumer demand has promoted the continuous growth of retail, catering, clothing, express delivery, bills and other markets. Under the environment of the growth of the total market of the above products, the demand for thermal printing services such as corresponding bill labels and cash registers It will also continue to grow, which in turn will drive the increase in demand for thermal paper, and the sales of thermal paper in my country will continue to grow. According to the "2019-2023 China's thermal paper industry market development status and production and sales data analysis report" released by Xinsijie Industry Research Center, in 2018, the sales volume of ordinary thermal paper in my country was 563,300 tons, and the sales volume of three-proof thermal paper was 130,300 tons.

Affected by technology and price factors, the consumption structure of thermal paper presents a pyramid-shaped feature, that is, the market share of three-proof thermal paper characterized by waterproof, oil-proof, and anti-friction characteristics is relatively small, while low-end thermal paper Larger market share. Due to the low-end cashier thermal paper used in low-end thermal paper does not require high technical quality such as thermal printing clarity and storage performance, the technical threshold is low, and the product market is used in a large amount. At present, the low-end thermal paper market is relatively mature.  The market competition is fierce, the price is low, and the return on investment is also low. The high-end three-proof thermal paper market is still in its infancy, the competition is relatively moderate, the profit level is relatively high, and the investment return will be better.