China's agricultural film industry market has huge potential for competition in the future

Statistics show that last year, the output of agricultural film enterprises above designated size nationwide reached 1.874 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%. At the same time, the application area of agricultural film products continues to expand. According to statistics from the agricultural department, the purchase volume of agricultural film nationwide in 2011-2012 reached 2.4 million tons. Among them, about 1.1 million tons of greenhouse film covered an area of 58 million mu; 1.31 million tons of ground film covered an area of 373 million mu. These data have effectively proved to us that the market prospects of the agricultural film industry are broad, but how to develop this industry well really requires some effort.

The agricultural film industry has great potential

The rapid development of the agricultural film industry has made great contributions to improving land output, enhancing agricultural disaster resistance, achieving stable and high agricultural production, promoting the optimization of planting industry structure, enhancing the effective supply of agricultural products, and increasing farmers' income. This is of greater significance to the situation of less arable land and poor natural conditions in my country.

In recent years, with the acceleration of the pace of new urbanization and agricultural modernization, the development space of agricultural film has become larger and larger. With the new goal of "ecological high-quality agriculture" (that is, the agricultural high-tech system and production model armed with modern and future new energy, new materials, new equipment, new information, new biotechnology, etc.), newer and higher requirements are also put forward for agricultural films, which is also a major development opportunity.

Modern agriculture puts forward new requirements for agricultural films

At present, my country has a complete range of agricultural film products and is the country with the highest level of thin agricultural film production in the world. Various single-layer and multi-layer composite greenhouse films with functions such as longevity, dripping, heat preservation, fog removal, anti-bacteria, light conversion, and high light transmittance, ground films with functions such as dripping, weeding, warming, degradation, and insect prevention, and special agricultural films for solar greenhouses, vegetables, fruits, flowers, tobacco, cotton, silage, etc. have been widely used. Among them, there are many innovative products with Chinese characteristics, suitable for national conditions and international competitiveness. The quality and technical level of some products have reached international advanced levels. The product structure of agricultural films has been optimized to a certain extent, and functional agricultural film products have accounted for about 50% of the total agricultural film.

However, while seeing the achievements, advantages and bright prospects of the industry, we should also be aware of the problems and shortcomings of the industry. First, the overall technology and management level are still far behind those of developed countries; second, the production concentration is low, the production capacity is oversupplied, and the proportion of medium and high-end and functional agricultural films is low, which leads to disorderly competition and market chaos; third, the variety, quality and function cannot fully meet the requirements of modern agricultural cultivation technology and the country's high-quality, high-efficiency, environmental protection and resource conservation.

Two issues should be paid attention to in the development of agricultural films

R&D should aim at the "functionalization" direction to continue to develop functional agricultural film products with Chinese characteristics and welcomed by farmers, and improve their promotion and application. Efforts should be made to increase the proportion of functional agricultural films in the total amount of agricultural film products, and increase the development and use of special films.

The greenhouse film develops synchronously with the functions of longevity, dripping and mist elimination, etc. Popularize and promote the coated dripping and heat preservation greenhouse films with synchronous functions and lifespans; research, improve and promote light ecological film products that are more suitable for converting ultraviolet light in sunlight that is harmful to crops and green light that is useless for photosynthesis into red light, blue-violet light and other light ecological film products required for plant photosynthesis.

The ground film strives to achieve environmental protection and clean production in agriculture, and we must continue to increase the development and application of functional films and new materials. On the one hand, we should develop and popularize functional ground films such as longevity, drip weeding, warming, and insect prevention, and ensure that spring and autumn covering films can still be recycled. The aging-resistant, silver-black and other recyclable ground films produced by some enterprises in Gansu with a service life of up to 18 months are very popular. The development and application of silver-black two-color biodegradable ground films by Henan Yinfeng Plastic Co., Ltd. have also achieved good results and won the Plastic Association Outstanding Achievement Award. On the other hand, we should accelerate the development, research and application of new resins such as modified pet aging-resistant ground films. In particular, we should accelerate the progress of farmland experiments on fully biodegradable ground films.

New breakthroughs in technology To promote technological progress and scientific and technological innovation in the plastic processing industry, the China Plastics Association has clarified the development trend and direction of the plastic processing industry's "functionalization, lightweight, and micro-molding". At present, there are eight issues that need to be solved urgently in the development of the agricultural film industry, such as modification of degradable plastic polylactic acid; industrialization of high-transparency functional and life-span films and high-performance water-saving equipment; long-term light ecological and light conversion agricultural film production technology; key technologies for bio-based plastic processing and equipment; recycling and high-value utilization of waste mulch films; promotion of long-term dripping and fog-eliminating agricultural functional greenhouse films and polymer-based nano-composite coatings; technology and application of agricultural functional covering materials to extend the efficacy; research on agricultural film thinning coating device technology, etc.

It is important to solve the self-cleaning of the surface of agricultural films so that they can maintain light transmittance for a long time. In particular, after the successful development of functional and life-span films, due to the influence of the natural environment, this long-life functional film needs to solve the surface self-cleaning problem. Therefore, accelerating the research and development of new resins, nano-level, heat preservation agents, and antistatic agents, while strengthening the self-cleaning treatment of the film surface, requires a difficult choice between technical feasibility and low cost.

It is necessary to speed up the development of light-converting agents with high spectral matching and synchronized fluorescence attenuation with the life of agricultural films, so as to provide reliable guarantees for the production of special functional films such as light-converting greenhouse films, light-converting thermal insulation films, and light-converting reflective films, and to exert the fertilizer and drug efficacy of agricultural films. At the same time, scientific research units and enterprises with conditions should speed up the research on the production characteristics of various special fruits and vegetables, analyze the different wavelengths of light required by each, and gradually establish a database in this regard to create conditions for the development of special films for special fruits and vegetables.

It is necessary to strengthen the research and development of high-end greenhouse films, and increase the promotion and application of online coating po films and multifunctional composite films. The market prospects of high-end agricultural films are broad, which is an important field of the high-end strategy of the agricultural film industry and an important development direction of agricultural films in the future.

It is necessary to strengthen the research and promotion of functional coating liquids, accelerate the production of ultra-thin coating equipment for agricultural films, and accelerate the localization of high-efficiency, energy-saving, and intelligent multi-layer supply equipment to provide equipment and technical support for the agricultural film industry.

Current classification of agricultural films

Multi-purpose films In addition to being used for rice, cotton, corn, flue-cured tobacco, and flower seedlings and field covering, this type of film is also used as a flood control film and as a lining for irrigation canals and water storage tanks, greatly improving the water utilization coefficient. In addition, agricultural films are also widely used in edible fungus cultivation, storage of green fodder, etc.

Long-life films In order to make the film resistant to aging and easy to recycle, anti-aging agents are added during the production process, which can extend the life of the film by 2 to 4 times. The ground film still has a certain strength after being peeled off, and can still be used after recycling, which can reduce costs and reduce the amount of residual film in the field.

Lightweight and thin films This type of film is only half the thickness of ordinary films, so the weight is reduced by half, and the corresponding use cost is also reduced by half. The light transmittance and thermal insulation performance of this film are also better than ordinary films. Each ton can cover 436 acres of cultivated land, which is twice that of ordinary agricultural films.

Insect-proof film It is a multi-layer film made of ordinary ethylene and low-density ethylene. This film only reflects ultraviolet rays in the sun to all sides, while inhibiting the reflection of visible light. Pests are afraid of ultraviolet light and dare not approach the film, so it can play an insect repellent effect. It is particularly effective for preventing and controlling aphids and red spiders with strong drug resistance.

Disease-proof film This is a special film, such as corn mulch film, cotton mulch film, vegetable mulch film, etc. It is produced by using the specific diseases of different crops. During the production process of disease-proof film, a specific pesticide is added in a targeted manner. This mulch film has no residue, no pollution, and has a significant disease prevention effect. It has been widely used in planting in many places.

Several new agricultural films that farmers are eager to see

In the process of using ordinary agricultural films, the common problem encountered by farmers is the problem of weeding inside the film. Compared with ordinary agricultural films, weed-killing agricultural films with increased weed-killing effects are very convenient to use, save labor, save medicine, keep warm, keep moisture, have good light transmittance, and can effectively solve the problem of weeding inside the film. At present, weed-killing agricultural films have begun to be tried in some rural areas in China.

Perishable agricultural films Waste agricultural films are not easy to rot and have become a public nuisance in rural areas. Therefore, farmers hope that manufacturers can produce new agricultural films that are easy to perish as soon as possible.

Cold-resistant and anti-aging agricultural films The ordinary agricultural films currently used by farmers are not cold-resistant or anti-aging, are easy to crack, and have a lifespan of only one year. It is understood that the output of cold-resistant and anti-aging agricultural films produced in my country currently accounts for only 20/10,000 of the total agricultural film output, which is far from the needs of farmers. Now farmers are in urgent need of new agricultural films with high light transmittance, high heat preservation and moisture retention, cold-resistant and aging-resistant, long-lasting and multifunctional.

Colored agricultural films Different colors of agricultural films have different absorption and refraction of light, and have different effects on various crops, and their economic benefits vary greatly. For example, the yield of tomatoes and cucumbers covered with red agricultural films will increase. Therefore, farmers are eager for relevant manufacturers to produce a variety of colored agricultural films to meet the needs of different agricultural crops.