Coastal chemical enterprises are calling for a rational approach to safety and environmental remediation.

Following the Spring Festival, chemical enterprises have been busy resuming production and operations. However, some chemical firms in the eastern coastal core regions, such as the Huaihai Economic Zone, still struggle to operate normally. Nearly two years after the devastating March 21 explosion in Xiangshui, the region continues to react with apprehension whenever chemicals are mentioned, underscoring the profound and lasting negative impact. Industry experts and business leaders strongly urge that safety and environmental‑protection reforms for chemical companies should adopt a holistic approach, targeting key challenges and pain points with precise, tailored measures. At the same time, they call for treating these enterprises with due consideration, focusing on intrinsic, quality‑driven development, revitalizing existing assets, and forging a new paradigm of high‑quality, green growth—thus laying a solid foundation for the security and stability of the chemical industry’s value chain and supply network.

A senior ecological and environmental expert at the School of Environment of Nanjing University believes that coastal “navel” regions possess more comprehensive advantages for developing the chemical industry than areas along the Yangtze or Yellow Rivers, making them ideal locations for ensuring smooth operation of the chemical industry’s industrial and supply chains. Against the backdrop of advancing green transformation and upgrading, chemical‑industry rectification should adhere to a nationwide, coordinated approach, take into account the country’s overall ecological interests, and adopt a scientific, rational stance toward chemical enterprises—avoiding simplistic, heavy‑handed measures such as coercive relocation, forced reassignment, or outright closure.

Chen Yongping, General Manager of Jiangsu Jianju Chemical Co., Ltd., believes that the primary concern local authorities currently have regarding chemical enterprises is safety. In reality, chemical production is both preventable and controllable; even highly hazardous nitration processes can be rendered safe at the source through the use of tubular reactors and intelligent control systems. Jianju Chemical manufactures specialty fine‑chemical products that are environmentally benign, with by‑products amenable to comprehensive utilization—yet it has been slated for closure solely because it employs a nitration process.

The on-duty general manager of Jiangsu Lüye Agrochemical Co., Ltd. stated, “In recent years, the company has invested over 30 million yuan in green upgrades and retrofits of its safety and environmental protection facilities, making it one of the enterprises in the Funing High-tech Industrial Development Zone with comprehensive environmental infrastructure and advanced technology. However, as a pesticide manufacturer, it is required to shut down and phase out processes involving highly hazardous operations such as chlorination and ammoniation. As a result, not only have the newly built environmental protection facilities been rendered obsolete, but substantial intangible asset losses have also occurred due to overseas registrations. Moreover, the negative impacts and disputes arising internationally from the suspension of export shipments are difficult to quantify.”

“Shuangdie Dyeing & Chemicals, with a total investment of nearly 100 million yuan, has now been ordered to exit the market, yet its assessed asset value is less than 20 million yuan. The direct losses from this investment are plain to see, and the resulting creditor‑debtor disputes are even more disheartening.” In the view of Zhang Hongshun, chairman of Lianyungang Shuangdie Dye Chemical Co., Ltd., chemical enterprises in similar predicaments are far from uncommon in the coastal core regions.

The president of a European chemical group’s China operations, commenting on the restructuring of Lianyungang’s chemical industry, suggested that the 100‑kilometer coastal belt along China’s eastern seaboard represents the region with the most comprehensive advantages for developing the chemical sector. After more than a decade of initial development, this area is now poised to reach critical mass and embark on a phase of full‑scale upgrading and accelerated growth. However, abruptly ordering chemical firms to shut down, encouraging them to relocate, or even compelling them to move westward would prove counterproductive when viewed from the perspective of national ecological and economic priorities, while inflicting substantial financial losses on investors. Under the mounting challenges posed by the new global landscape of chemical‑industry competition, if current policies remain unchanged, the coastal chemical‑industrial hub—once hailed by numerous international chemical giants and slated for large‑scale investment—risks squandering a crucial opportunity for development.

Zeng Cong, a research expert at the Shanghai Kaiju Rong Think Tank on chemical industry development strategies, conducted an assessment of the chemical industry’s transformation and upgrading in the coastal “umbilical” region from multiple perspectives—technological‑economic, socio‑economic, and others. His conclusion is that, building on the existing foundation, pursuing ecological transformation and green‑development transformation represents the optimal strategy. By contrast, a blanket, oversimplified push for industrial relocation has failed to mitigate the underlying safety and environmental risks, while also imposing high costs and exposing vulnerabilities in hazardous‑chemical logistics—risks that remain largely unresolved. From the standpoint of the national chemical‑industry development strategy, such an approach yields more drawbacks than benefits; in particular, the potential threats to and adverse impacts on the ecological environments of the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins warrant close attention.

Industry experts recommend that the coastal “navel” regions, as areas with the strongest advantages for chemical‑industry investment, should, against the backdrop of a once-in-a-century transformation in the global economy, be granted a 5- to 10-year development and upgrading period. This would involve comprehensively assessing factors such as firms’ technological capabilities, market supply and demand for products, and their ability to compete internationally, while setting clear goals for planning and transformation and striving to achieve development that is both higher‑quality and faster‑paced.

Source: China Chemical Industry News