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 “3·21” 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 are urgently calling for a dual‑pronged approach: on the one hand, comprehensive safety and environmental remediation that precisely targets the sector’s most pressing challenges; on the other, a more supportive stance toward chemical companies—focusing on intrinsic, quality‑driven development, revitalizing existing assets, and forging a new paradigm of high‑quality, green growth—to firmly underpin the security and stability of the chemical industry’s value chain and supply network.

A senior environmental and ecological 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 placed on the list for closure simply 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 more than 30 million yuan in green upgrades and retrofits of its safety and environmental protection systems, making it one of the enterprises in the Funing High‑Tech Industrial Park with fully equipped, state‑of‑the‑art environmental facilities. However, as a pesticide manufacturer, our synthesis processes—including chlorination and ammoniation—involve high‑risk operations that have been mandated to shut down and phase out. As a result, not only have the newly installed environmental facilities become obsolete, but we have also suffered substantial losses in intangible assets tied to overseas registrations. Moreover, the negative repercussions and disputes arising from supply disruptions in international markets 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. Having been under development for more than a decade, this area is now poised to reach critical mass and embark on a phase of full‑scale upgrading and rapid growth. However, abruptly ordering chemical firms to shut down, encouraging them to relocate, or even pushing them westward would prove counterproductive when viewed from the perspective of national ecological and economic priorities, while inflicting substantial financial losses on investors. In the face of the severe challenges posed by the new global landscape of chemical‑industry competition, if current policies remain unchanged, the coastal chemical cluster—once hailed by numerous international chemical giants and slated for massive investment—risks squandering a golden opportunity for development.

Zeng Cong, a research expert on chemical industry development strategies at the Shanghai Kaiju Rong Think Tank, conducted an assessment of the chemical industry’s transformation and upgrading in the coastal “navel” region from multiple perspectives—technological‑economic, social‑economic, and others. His conclusion was that, building on the existing foundation, pursuing ecological transformation and green‑development transformation is the most prudent course of action. By contrast, a blanket, oversimplified push for industrial relocation would leave underlying safety and environmental risks largely unaddressed, while also imposing high costs and exposing vulnerabilities such as hazardous‑chemical logistics when competing in international markets. From the standpoint of the national chemical‑industry development strategy, the net benefits are outweighed by the drawbacks; 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, as the coastal “navel” region boasts the greatest advantages for chemical‑industry investment, it should—against the backdrop of a once‑in‑a‑century transformation in the global economy—establish a 5- to 10-year development and upgrading phase, taking into account factors such as firms’ technological capabilities, market supply and demand, and participation in international competition. This would enable the region to set clear goals for planning and transformation, striving to achieve development that is both higher‑quality and faster‑moving.

Source: China Chemical Industry News