If the growth engine of the board industry in the past decade has been the delivery of new houses, then in the next decade, this engine will be completely replaced.

An unavoidable fact is that the Chinese real estate market has entered the stock era from the incremental era. The growth rate of new residential construction has slowed down, but the demand for renovation, partial renovation, and aging friendly upgrades of old houses is surging. Data shows that the demand for renovating existing houses has accounted for more than 60% of the board consumption. The renovation of old residential areas involves tens of thousands of projects every year, with kitchen and bathroom replacement and whole house renovation becoming mainstream. In addition, with the direct subsidy stimulus brought by the "trade in" policy, a huge, sustained, and structural demand pool is forming.

What does this mean? This means that the customer profile of the sheet metal industry is being redefined.

In the past, the main buyers of boards were developers and furniture factories, with large orders, long cycles, and extreme sensitivity to prices. Today, more and more end consumers are directly entering the building materials market, personally selecting every piece of board. They don't understand what static flexural strength and elastic modulus are, but they know that 'I have children at home, so we must use the most environmentally friendly ones'; They don't care about the density deviation of the board, but they care about whether this board will mold when placed in a damp bathroom. The changes on the demand side are fundamentally reshaping the logic of the supply side.

Functionalization has become the most certain growth direction for the sheet metal industry.

When basic needs are met, consumers begin to pay for 'problem-solving'. The growth rate of moisture-proof boards in the southern market is over 20%, while the annual growth rate of antibacterial boards and bamboo wood composite boards exceeds 15%. Functional boards suitable for specific scenarios such as children's rooms, kitchens, and outdoor areas are growing from segmented categories to independent tracks.

Imagine a scenario where a board not only needs to meet environmental standards, but also has the ability to resist bacteria, bacteria, moisture, and mold, regulate temperature and humidity, and even absorb and decompose formaldehyde. This is not science fiction, but a product that top companies are already mass producing today. Graphene black gold plate, herbal extract series, silver ion antibacterial plate... Functionality is no longer just icing on the cake, but a hard barrier for products to enter the mid to high end market.

The revival of customized home furnishings has injected another driving force into the sheet metal industry.

The growth rate of whole house customization has returned to a positive growth track, and as the "skeleton" of customized home furnishings, the demand for sheet metal is highly tied to the prosperity of the customization industry. More importantly, consumers' requirements for customized home furnishings have upgraded from "usable" to "good-looking and easy to use" - door and wall cabinets in the same color, one-stop board selection, and on-demand matching of substrate needs for different spaces. This "whole house solution" mindset is forcing panel companies to transform from mere material suppliers to participants in spatial aesthetics.

Whoever can provide a systematic solution of "style+color+substrate", who can achieve full coverage from aesthetic preferences to landing peace of mind, and who can take the initiative in the existing market. This is no longer selling boards, but selling underlying materials for a lifestyle.

The accelerated increase in industry concentration is another irreversible trend.

Top brands continue to expand their market share due to their multidimensional advantages in technology, channels, and brand; Small and medium-sized manufacturers lacking core technology and compliance capabilities are being rapidly squeezed out. In the context of overcapacity and price competition, the profit margin of ordinary sheet metal is constantly compressed. Only differentiation, functionalization, and branding are the ways to break through. The era of stock is not synonymous with shrinkage, but rather the beginning of reshaping. Enterprises that can understand new needs and provide new value will find their own growth poles in this migration.