The wave of closures in the chemical industry is intensifying! News of the closure and relocation of chemical industrial parks in 9 provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, and Guangdong

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The wave of closures in the chemical industry is intensifying! News on the closure and relocation of chemical parks in 9 provinces including Shandong, Jiangsu, and Guangdong Author/Source: Southern Rural News Date: 2019-05-06 Clicks: 49 As of April 30, 8 cities in Shandong—Jinan, Dongying, Zaozhuang, Linyi, Tai’an, Binzhou, Weihai, and Yantai—had announced plans to close chemical enterprises, bringing the total number to 568. In addition, the shutdown and relocation of chemical industrial parks in provinces such as Jiangsu, Guangdong, Henan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Gansu, and Heilongjiang continue, affecting dozens of fertilizer and pesticide companies. On March 21, a massive explosion occurred at Jiangsu Tianjiayi Chemical Co., Ltd. in Chenjiagang Town, Xiangshui, Yancheng, Jiangsu, resulting in 78 deaths and 640 injuries. On March 25, an explosion and fire broke out at Zhaoyuan Jinheng Chemical Co., Ltd. in Xinzhuang Town, Zhaoyuan City, Yantai, resulting in 1 death and 4 injuries. On April 3, a fire broke out in a chemical plant in the Economic Development Zone of Taixing City, Jiangsu Province, triggering an explosion. On April 7, an explosion occurred at the third aromatic hydrocarbons plant of Formosa Plastics’ Maihao Sixth Light Industrial Zone, prompting tens of thousands of people from nearby 5 villages to evacuate. At 10:10 a.m. on April 16, a tank truck carrying acetic acid near the Yujiahu Management Committee on National Highway 207 in Xiangyang, Hubei, emitted yellow smoke due to a chemical reaction occurring inside the tank (Level 2 emergency response). Jiangsu Province is a major chemical industry hub. The explosion at the Xiangshui Chemical Plant in Yancheng triggered the strictest environmental regulations in Jiangsu, leading to a significant reduction in the number of chemical industrial parks. This means that many chemical companies are faced with reduced production or even closure, which has a substantial impact on the chemical industry market. Safety accidents are appalling, resulting in heavy casualties and substantial property losses, which has drawn widespread attention from **all sectors of society. On April 15, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that among the 676 chemical parks across the country, about 7% have an output value of around 50 billion yuan, while approximately 60% have an output value of less than 10 billion yuan. By the end of 2018, it was initially determined that a total of 1,176 enterprises across the country needed to be relocated or upgraded, of which 479 were relocated to other locations, 360 were upgraded on-site, and 337 were phased out. This year, we must make solid progress in the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemicals manufacturing enterprises. http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-420ac655e952c3b95cc084223bdea3aa Summary of the rectification efforts in chemical parks and enterprises across the country: 1. Jiangsu – Following the explosion at a chemical plant on March 21, Yancheng was the first city to decide to permanently shut down the Xiangshui Chemical Park. There were over 100 enterprises in this park; the list of those involved in the production of pesticides and pesticide intermediates is available here: http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-8be1498366fdab6c0bb30e6c263290f7 Last year, Jiangsu had approximately 6,100 chemical enterprises. In accordance with the goals set by Jiangsu Province for the “four batches” of actions related to the petrochemical industry, 2,077 of these enterprises were shut down ； On April 1 of this year, the General Office of the province issued the \"Jiangsu Province Chemical Industry Improvement Plan (Draft for Comment)\" ； On April 8, Jiangsu Province specified that by the end of 2020, the number of chemical manufacturing enterprises in the province would be reduced to 2,000 ； By 2022, the number of chemical manufacturing enterprises in the province will not exceed 1,000 ； This means that Jiangsu will have to shut down another 2,000 chemical enterprises this year. Every effort is being made to improve and upgrade chemical industrial parks; a comprehensive assessment of the 50 such parks across Jiangsu Province has been carried out, and based on the results, their number will be reduced to around 20. Enterprises and industrial parks that do not meet safety production standards must be closed down; those that fail to meet environmental protection requirements must also be shut down, and outdated and low-level enterprises must be phased out. In the 1-kilometer area along both sides of the main and tributaries of the Yangtze River, industries in environmentally sensitive zones, densely populated urban areas, outside chemical industrial parks, and those that are below a certain scale must be shut down if necessary, closed down firmly, or relocated promptly. With the determination to make tough decisions, efforts will be made to address prominent issues such as the concentration of heavy chemical industries along the river and problems related to low-quality, scattered, polluting, and hazardous industries. 2. In Shandong, as of April 30, eight cities including Jinan, Dongying, Zaozhuang, Linyi, Tai’an, Binzhou, Weihai, and Yantai had announced plans to shut down chemical enterprises, bringing the total number to 568. The list of 95 such enterprises is as follows: List of chemical manufacturing enterprises to be shut down and phased out: http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-8dd5c3f74da472ff9d828520cb3c8906 http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-6437ee54705ecb3965614383973c75ae http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-3c69dd3c56a53d68587bf6aa8c647c82 http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-9fafdb718001f021f526ddf44bca4863 In accordance with the requirements set out in the \"Work Plan for the Special Action on the Safety Production Transformation and Upgrading of the Chemical Industry in Linzi District\" (Document No. 13) and the \"Guiding Principles for the Special Action on the Safety Production Transformation and Upgrading of the Chemical Industry in Linzi District\" (Document No. 27), and after consultation with the local people’s governments and street offices, a list of chemical enterprises to be shut down and phased out was determined. The public display period runs from April 22, 2019, to April 26, 2019. List of chemical enterprises to be shut down and phased out in Linzi District: http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-73d7d04edd586d13a7f111d0cc23188f http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-6d6f0024532277f90bf496c9a9f6dea7 In accordance with the requirements of the Provincial Chemical Industry Special Action Office’s “Notice on Confirming the List of Enterprises to Be Shut Down and Phased Out” (Lu Hua An Zhuan Han No. 48), and after consulting relevant departments and towns/offices, the following 3 enterprises have been included in the list of chemical production enterprises in our district that are to be shut down and phased out; this list is now being made public: http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-52f936372900ca7e58521871abd3eb23 On April 9th, Shandong Province decided to carry out special law enforcement inspections focused on work safety in key industries such as hazardous chemicals, coal mines, non-coal mines, fire protection, and metallurgical industry and trade, across the province, for a period of 3 months starting from that date. Comprehensive special law enforcement inspections are carried out on all enterprises that produce hazardous chemicals. The focus includes conducting follow-up checks on chemical enterprises involved in nitration reactions as well as those that have suspended operations. Additionally, emphasis is placed on examining the results of regional safety risk assessments and corrective actions taken in the chemical parks designated by the province**, with particular attention paid to the safety impact exerted by hazardous chemical enterprises within these parks on surrounding facilities. 3. Zhejiang: List of the first batch of enterprises with major hazardous chemical accident hazards that have been designated at the provincial level: http://upload.nfncb.cn/gw/777893-3e5c854ac392faa135a9985b003842d8. Once the rectification of these hazards is completed, the relevant municipal industry authorities should promptly organize inspections. For those that have completed the rectification on time, a form for the inspection of such rectifications must be filled out; after it is reviewed by the provincial industry authorities, it shall be submitted to the Provincial Work Safety Committee Office. Enterprises that meet the requirements for safe production after rectification will have their entries removed from the list ； Those that fail to complete the rectifications on time shall be ordered to suspend production or operations in accordance with the law. The Provincial Safety Committee will conduct random inspections of the progress in addressing hazardous conditions that have been identified at the provincial level, in conjunction with the broader inspection and oversight efforts. 4. Henan: The Henan Province has recently issued the \"Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Relocation and Transformation of Highly Polluting Industrial Enterprises within Urban Areas\" (hereinafter referred to as the \"Opinions\"), requiring that by the end of 2019, efforts be initiated to relocate and transform existing highly polluting enterprises in the chemical, coking, and carbon industries located within urban areas. According to the Guidelines, by the end of 2022, heavily polluting enterprises such as those in the chemical industry within the urban areas of Henan Province will complete the tasks of on-site transformation, relocation to industrial parks, transformation of their business activities, or closure, depending on their category. This will lead to a significant improvement in the green development level of these enterprises and a marked enhancement in the quality of the urban air environment. Among them, enterprises moving from cities to industrial parks shall start the relocation process by the end of 2019; small and medium-sized enterprises shall complete it by the end of 2022, while large and extra-large enterprises shall complete it by the end of 2025. At present, the more than 70 chemical enterprises involved in relocation and renovation have already formed preliminary ideas as to whether to move, renovate, or shut down. Meanwhile, over half of the chemical enterprises in Henan Province that are above a certain scale are located in chemical industrial parks. A number of highly competitive chemical parks have emerged in cities such as Puyang, Pingdingshan, Jiaozuo, Luoyang, Xuchang, and Sanmenxia; these parks will serve as the \"new homes\" for the enterprises that need to be relocated. 5. Hubei: According to the Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, the Command Center for the special campaign to shut down, reform, and relocate chemical enterprises along the river in Hubei Province recently issued a notice titled \"Notice on Issuing the List of Tasks Related to the Shutdown, Reform, and Relocation of Chemical Enterprises along the River in Hubei Province,\" covering 478 such enterprises. It is understood that among the 478 chemical enterprises involved in this case, as many as 118 are located within one kilometer of the river, accounting for a quarter of the total number. Among the improvement methods, on-site modifications accounted for the largest number, making up 49.8% of the total, which is nearly half of the overall amount ； The number of relocations to other locations accounts for 25.3%, which is roughly one-quarter of the total number ； Those that have shut down, exited the business, or switched to other production areas account for a quarter of the total, placing huge pressure on Hubei Province. In terms of the specific schedule, by the end of 2020, 345 chemical enterprises across the province will have completed the process of closure, transformation, or relocation, accounting for 72% of the total number; the remaining 133 chemical enterprises will complete this process by the end of 2025. 6. Tianjin: Based on the realities of hazardous chemical production in the city, and in line with the needs of coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Tianjin advances the relocation, renovation, transformation, and upgrading of hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises located in areas with high urban population density in a step-by-step and orderly manner. By 2025, existing hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises located in densely populated urban areas that do not meet the requirements regarding safety and hygiene distances will be upgraded to meet those standards on-site, relocated to regulated chemical industrial parks, or closed down, thereby significantly reducing the safety and environmental risks associated with these enterprises. Among them, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large enterprises with significant risk factors, were required to initiate relocation and renovation by the end of 2018, with completion by the end of 2020. 7. Guangdong: Last year, Dongguan formulated and implemented the \"Dongguan Blue Sky Defense Action Plan\" to launch a comprehensive effort to protect the blue sky. According to statistics, Dongguan has so far cleared a total of 13,073 enterprises that were classified as \"disordered, polluting, and unregulated\"; of these, 9,553 were shut down and banned, while 3,520 were renovated and improved. A customized plan is developed for each hazardous chemicals enterprise regarding its relocation and renovation. By 2025, those hazardous chemicals production enterprises located in areas with a high population density that do not meet the required safety and health standards will be renovated on-site to meet those standards, relocated to regulated chemical industrial parks (referring to areas designated locally for the production and storage of hazardous chemicals, including high-tech development zones, economic and technological development zones, industrial transfer zones, and specialized chemical parks; the same applies hereafter), or shut down and cease operations. 1. All small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large enterprises with significant risk factors, shall initiate relocation and renovation by the end of 2018, with completion by the end of 2020. 2. All other large and super-large enterprises shall initiate their relocation and renovation by the end of 2020, with completion by the end of 2025. 8. Heilongjiang: At present, there are 183 chemical manufacturing enterprises in Heilongjiang Province, located in 12 cities and the Provincial Reclamation Administration, but the progress of relocation and renovation efforts varies from one area to another. Formulate a scientific work plan for the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises in densely populated areas of local towns, specifying the list of enterprises to be relocated, the routes for relocation, the destinations, and the time frames for completion. Since there are no local entities willing to take over the park, efforts must be made to assist the enterprises relocating from there in finding alternatives in other cities or regions, so as to ensure that these enterprises can leave the city and settle in the park. By the end of March, an implementation plan for the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises in densely populated urban areas across the province must be prepared. 9. Gansu: The relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises in densely populated urban areas of Gansu Province was fully launched by the end of 2018; those enterprises that did not meet the requirements regarding safety and health protection distances had to be renovated on-site to meet the standards, relocated to regulated industrial (chemical) parks, or shut down. The relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical enterprises in Gansu Province will be carried out in two stages: 1. All small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as large enterprises with significant safety risks, will begin their relocation and renovation processes by the end of 2018 ； 2. Completion by the end of 2020; all other large-scale and extra-large enterprises shall initiate their relocation and renovation processes by the end of 2020, with completion by the end of September 2025. Constraints remain significant. Since the full-scale relocation and renovation efforts began in 2018, various regions have formulated relocation plans for hazardous chemical enterprises based on their own circumstances, setting clear \"timelines\". However, analyses suggest that heavy financial pressures and limited capacity of industrial parks remain practical challenges hindering the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemicals enterprises. Taking Shandong Province, one of the major chemical-producing provinces, as an example, preliminary estimates indicate that the total cost required for relocating industries related to chemicals in Shandong is around 121.9 billion yuan. This process affects 344,000 people, and it requires 49,000 mu of land, resulting in significant relocation pressures. Qian Huantao, director of the Shandong Provincial Economic and Information Commission and deputy head of the provincial special task force for the chemical industry, previously said that since no corresponding policies have been introduced regarding funding, land use, finance, and employee resettlement, Shandong lacks benchmarks, which makes the relocation process more difficult and slows its progress. In the view of Liu Dehui, deputy general manager of China National Chemical Engineering Corporation, chemical enterprises still face the significant problem of a lack of funding for the process of moving out of cities and into industrial parks. This is especially true for large chemical companies, whose relocation efforts require substantial resources; it is difficult to secure the necessary funds in a short period of time, resulting in progress that falls short of expectations. Note: China’s chemical industrial parks suffer from issues such as low standardization and inadequate professional support, resulting in limited capacity. A chemical industrial park is by no means a mere accumulation of production facilities; it should be an organic whole based on collaboration. In response to the above issues, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also issued a statement, proposing to include the relocation and transformation of hazardous chemicals enterprises within the scope of support provided by the **special funds for technological transformation, and to increase the amount of funding available as well as the number of banks that participate in these targeted projects over time. It also encourages social capital to participate extensively in the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemicals enterprises, and explores the establishment of market-based industry funds for such relocation and renovation efforts. At present, environmental improvement focusing on the chemical industry and chemical parks, especially the transformation and adjustment of the chemical industry, has become a governmental task. All chemical enterprises must clearly implement the local plans for the relocation of chemical facilities, so as to avoid missing the deadline and regretting it later!