The Price of CCI And PCB Raw Materials Has Risen Dramatically

Recently, the industry has reported a surge in prices for copper clad laminate (CCL), a key material in PCB, marking the first such increase in the past two years. Specifically, China's top two CCL manufacturers, Kingboard Chemical Holdings and Meizhou Weilibang, have taken the lead in announcing price hikes of 8% to 10%, which serves as an important indicator.

Furthermore, as reported by The Economic Daily, Taiwan-based CCL manufacturers, including TPK Holding, Taiwan Lumens, Tenghui Electronics, and Litemax Electronics, are also closely monitoring industry pricing trends. Some manufacturers have already started proposing price increases, and if the upward pricing trend in the industry is established, it will help the operations of related Taiwanese manufacturers. It is rumored that Nanya, the largest CCL producer in Taiwan, is considering raising prices for some products and is currently discussing with PCB customers. If the price increase plan is successfully implemented, more CCL manufacturers are expected to follow suit and issue price increase notices.

China Merchants Securities has released a research report stating that since the beginning of the year, downstream demand has continued to recover, PCB operating rates have generally improved, and upstream raw material prices have continued to rise. In March and April, some CCL manufacturers have already implemented their first price increase. Recently, the upstream copper price has increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of up to 16.1%. The processing fee for copper foil has also shown an upward trend, while electronic glass fiber cloth manufacturers have adjusted their product prices for recovery. Midstream CCL manufacturers have also started to issue price increase notices to downstream customers to alleviate cost pressures. Given the continued recovery of downstream demand and the upward trend of upstream commodity prices, PCB manufacturers are increasing their raw material inventory, which is expected to drive the CCL industry into a pricing upward channel, with sustained improvement in profitability.

According to The Economic Daily, the international copper price has increased significantly recently, with a year-on-year increase of up to 16.1%. In addition, the processing fee for copper foil has also increased slightly due to the continued recovery of downstream operating rates, contributing to the price increase of CCL. It is estimated that the increase in copper prices since the beginning of this year is expected to increase CCL costs by 7%, and the recent recovery-oriented price increase of electronic glass fiber cloth by 7% will also affect CCL costs by about 1.5%. The industry analysis believes that mainland manufacturers have previously slashed prices to grab orders, with prices lower than those of Taiwan-based manufacturers. Even if they had previously reduced prices by 20%, with the current 8% to 10% price increase, the actual prices are still lower than those before the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that there is still room for further price increases as production costs rise. Among them, low- to mid-tier material products are expected to reflect the cost increase first, and as the PCB industry enters the traditional production and stockpiling peak, subsequent material price increases are only a matter of time.