After the “March 21” extremely serious explosion in Xiangshui, Yancheng, the North Jiangsu Chemical Industry Park began to undergo major renovations. Large and small chemical companies in the chemical industry parks in Xiangshui, Binhai, Dafeng and other places also “sleeped” overnight.
According to incomplete statistics, the major renovation of the North Jiangsu Chemical Industry Park only covers Yancheng and Lianyungang areas. More than 20 listed chemical companies or subsidiaries were involved in the suspension of production, affecting many industries such as pesticides, dyes and vitamins.
Now, after several months of collective production suspension, the Subei Chemical Industry Park has once again attracted the attention of more and more industry insiders. Especially on October 25, Fengshan Group announced that the company’s original drug synthesis workshop officially resumed production on that day. Fengshan Group thus became the first chemical company in Yancheng City to receive approval to resume production.
Chemical enterprises in northern Jiangsu that have suspended production are not allowed to resume production on their own, and a one-enterprise-one policy is implemented. The government’s review progress not only determines the fate of the chemical companies involved, but also affects the development of the industry.
The reporter recently went to the Dafeng District Chemical Park in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, where Fengshan Group is located, to conduct an on-site investigation on the current situation of local chemical companies.
Enterprises see hope of resuming production
In the Dafeng District Economic Development Zone, there is Huafeng Industrial Park, which is close to the East China Sea and 70 kilometers away from downtown Yancheng.
Public information shows:
The park has a planned area of 11.6 square kilometers and currently has 28 enterprises of various types, including chemical production enterprises Up to 22 companies. After the “March 21” explosion in Xiangshui, the Yancheng City Committee decided to completely close Xiangshui Chemical Industry Park on April 4, and Huafeng Industrial Park also entered a state of shutdown. Currently, Huafeng Industrial Park is still on alert, and vehicles entering the park must be registered before they can be released.
Since August, the rectification work of the Subei Chemical Industry Park has been gradually advanced.
The release of two government documents has given the suspended enterprises in the Subei Chemical Industry Park hope of resuming production. Since September, the official website of the Dafeng District Government has also successively announced that some chemical companies intend to apply for municipal-level review of production resumption.
Although it has been more than three months since the No. 5 document of the Salt Chemical Management Office [2019] was issued, when I am in Huafeng Industrial Park, I still feel that the park is relatively deserted, and there are almost no sights on the streets. All chemical plants are closed to vehicles and pedestrians. Only when you approach the guard room at the gate do you realize that there are security personnel guarding the quiet factory.
An employee of a chemical company told reporters: “Now only some of the production lines of Fengshan Group have resumed production, and other announced companies in the park are still on the way to resume production. Since the government Once one company is allowed to resume production, other companies will slowly reopen later.”
It is not yet known whether the safety incident will affect the final resumption of production of the company involved. On November 10, the official website of the Dafeng District Government showed that the production resumption applications of Jiangsu Haixing Chemical Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Haili Chemical Co., Ltd. passed the port district’s preliminary review and district-level acceptance, and are planning to apply for municipal review.
It is difficult to find the rules of the resumption of production process
“At present, our company The application for resumption of production has passed the port district’s preliminary review and district-level acceptance, and is applying for Yancheng City-level review. It will soon enter the on-site inspection and acceptance of the municipal fire department, followed by the municipal safety supervision, environmental protection, emergency management, industry and information technology departments. , will come to the company for on-site inspection and acceptance.” On December 5, a relevant person from a chemical company told reporters. However, regarding the question of when to resume production, the above-mentioned companies said that “it is difficult to say whether production can be resumed within this year.”
According to the relevant production resumption requirements of the Yancheng City Urbanization Management Office, companies do not have the right to resume production on their own, and the resumption of production process requires layer-by-layer approval.
Since September, the Dafeng District Government has successively announced the plans of Fengshan Group, Brother Technology Dafeng Factory (Jiangsu Brother Vitamin Co., Ltd.), Huifeng Group Six other companies plan to apply for municipal-level review of production resumption. Among them, except Fengshan Group, which has resumed production, the applications for resumption of production of the other five companies are still on the way to be reviewed at the municipal level.
Why can Fengshan Group take the lead in resuming production?
According to workers in the chemical park, the main reasons include:
First of all, Fengshan Group has a good foundation and the company’s operations are relatively standardized. Secondly, during the production suspension and rectification process, Fengshan Group invested more than 100 million yuan in real money for various safety and environmental protection rectifications; in addition, Fengshan Group is a well-known local enterprise with great influence. The company’s comprehensive strength and tax payment ability rank among the top in Yancheng City.
However, when the reporter asked the company about this issue, the company did not respond.
In fact, as early as September 18, Fengshan Group’s application for resuming production passed the port district’s preliminary review and district-level acceptance. In this way, Fengshan Group waited for more than a month from district-level acceptance to municipal-level review to final resumption of production.
The application for resumption of production of Jiangsu Brothers Vitamin Co., Ltd., which was ranked behind, passed the port district’s preliminary review and district-level acceptance on September 29, only later than Fengshan Group.��10 days. But now, more than two months have passed, and Jiangsu Brothers Vitamin Co., Ltd.’s application to resume production is still under review at the Yancheng City level. Therefore, the time for companies in the queue to resume production is unpredictable.
Some outside peers or alternative companies have made a lot of money this year.
It is understood that the Xiangshui Chemical Ecological Park where the “3·21” explosion occurred has gathered more than ten dye and intermediate production companies. Among them, Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Co., Ltd., the subject of the explosion accident, produces m-phenylenediamine as its main product. It is an important enterprise in the domestic production and operation of this type of products, with an annual output of approximately 17,000 tons. After the accident, the prices of dyes and intermediate products immediately increased, and dye companies represented by Zhejiang Longsheng were also favored by the capital market. In the first three quarters of this year, Zhejiang Longsheng’s operating income reached 16.623 billion yuan and net profit reached 3.882 billion yuan, both hitting record highs.
Subei Chemical Industry Park is also an important production base of vitamins in China. Zhejiang Pharmaceutical and Haijianuo’s biotin (also known as “vitamin B7”) production plants are located here, and they stopped production one after another in April this year. The biotin production capacity of the two companies accounts for approximately 30% of the total market share. Against the background of reduced market supply and increased demand, the price of biotin has risen from the lowest level of 50 yuan to 60 yuan/kg to about 220 yuan/kg.
Rectification and relocation
Major renovation in the Subei Chemical Industry Park In China, the dynamics of chemical companies in the park are receiving close attention from the market.
Some people in the industry said that Fengshan Group’s announcement of resumption of production has given Northern Jiangsu chemical companies new hope, but this does not mean that other companies that have suspended production in the early stage will resume production one after another. , the key still depends on the local government’s review of applications for resumption of production.
In April this year, the “Jiangsu Province Chemical Industry Rectification and Improvement Plan (Draft for Comments)” was released. The document proposes that the number of chemical companies in the province will be reduced to 2,000 by the end of 2020, and controlled to less than 1,000 by the end of 2022. It also requires a comprehensive evaluation of 50 chemical industry parks in the province. Based on the evaluation results, the number of chemical companies in the province will be reduced to 1,000. The number will be reduced to about 20. Within one kilometer on both sides of the main branches of the Yangtze River, the 34 companies outside the chemical industry park will in principle withdraw from the industry by the end of 2020.
According to relevant analysis reports, if only 1,000 chemical companies are ultimately retained as stated in the above-mentioned solicitation document, 6,400 will face closure. This intensity is unprecedented.
“Judging from the current situation, of the 22 chemical companies in the park, only seven or eight may eventually be able to resume production, and the other companies will have to close down or relocate.” In Huafeng Industrial Park, relevant people told reporters that the resumption of production by Fengshan Group has given hope to other chemical companies that have suspended production, but this company has invested hundreds of millions of yuan in various rectifications and upgrades. Samples of production resumption are already here. According to this requirement, ordinary small and medium-sized chemical companies simply cannot bear it. “Currently, several companies in the park have been abandoned. One of the chemical companies originally invested tens of millions of dollars in rectification this year, but after seeing this situation, the boss said he would quit.”
The reporter’s investigation revealed that some chemical companies in Yancheng City are considering investing in and building factories in the mainland. One company revealed that “some time ago, we even went to Wuhai in Inner Mongolia and Zhongwei in Ningxia for inspection.” Another chemical company in Zhejiang reported to reporters that they are considering moving their production base in northern Jiangsu back to Zhejiang. </p
