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Caixin News, August 22 (Reporter Luo Yichen) The price surge in vitamins significantly boosts manufacturers' performance. In the first half of the year, leading company Zhejiang NHU (002001.SZ) achieved quarterly growth, with Q2 net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.335 billion yuan, a new high for the same period in history.

Tonight, Zhejiang NHU released its semi-annual report, achieving a revenue of 9.845 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year growth of 32.70%. Among them, net profit attributable to shareholders reached 2.204 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.62%. Previously, multiple brokerages predicted that Zhejiang NHU's full-year revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders would increase by approximately 22.81% and 51.13%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Considering that the price of the company's core product vitamins further increased in the third quarter, and if there are no unexpected events in the fourth quarter, it is not much of a suspense for the company's full-year performance to meet the market expectations mentioned above.

During the reporting period, the company's significant profit growth was mainly driven by the increase in quantity and price of products such as methionine and vitamins. In the first half of the year, the company's nutrition product business, which includes vitamins, achieved a revenue growth rate of 38.30% and a year-on-year increase in gross margin of 6.98 percentage points, reaching 35.86%. Thanks to the strong performance of products such as vitamins, the company's operating cash flow increased significantly by 73.06% year-on-year.

It is worth noting that the main benefit enjoyed by vitamin manufacturers in the first half of the year was the bullish trend in prices, while the sharp increase in vitamin prices occurred in the third quarter. Against this backdrop, the Q2 performance reaching a new high for the same period in history is not a common phenomenon in the industry. Zhejiang Medicine (600216.SH), another major player in the vitamin industry, achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of 0.206 billion yuan in the second quarter of this year, which has not yet equalled the high point of the same period in 2021.

There are various reasons for the performance gap among manufacturers, besides differences in business structures. Caixin News reporters noticed that in the first half of the year, the export market for vitamins was stronger than the domestic market, and companies with a higher proportion of exports benefited more. During the reporting period, Zhejiang NHU's export proportion reached around 55%, far exceeding Zhejiang Medicine's 31% export proportion.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, the current wave of price surges in vitamins is still ongoing, and the situation is becoming increasingly favorable for leading companies. Market data shows that recently, vitamin A has gradually become the core category experiencing price increases, with some manufacturers calling for a high price of 600 yuan/kg, significantly surpassing the quoted prices of vitamin D3 at 440 yuan/kg and vitamin E at 200 yuan/kg during the same period, demonstrating a trend of latecomers taking the lead. Some opinions suggest that the domestic demand is still relatively weak at the moment, making it difficult to support a substantial increase in prices for multiple categories of vitamins simultaneously. The surge in the price of vitamin A may indicate that manufacturers have chosen it as their main focus.