Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the National Energy Administration and other 9 departments jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Innovation and Development of Fine Chemical Industry (2024-2027)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Plan").
In order to do a good job in the implementation of the "Implementation Plan", the relevant content is hereby interpreted as follows.
1. What is the background of the introduction of the Implementation Plan? Fine chemicals and new chemical materials (hereinafter referred to as fine chemicals) have high added value and rapid demand growth, which are important engines for the steady growth, transformation and upgrading of the petrochemical industry, and indispensable material support for the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. In recent years, the fine chemical industry in mainland China has developed rapidly: first, the industrial scale has been growing, with an operating income of about 3.9 trillion yuan in 2023, more than 30,000 kinds of products produced, and the world's largest output of pesticides, dyes, coatings, pigments, food and feed additives. Second, technological progress is accelerating. The supply capacity of key products such as wet chemicals and electronic special gases has been effectively improved, and the level of resource utilization, intrinsic safety and cleaner production has been significantly improved. Third, the vitality of the enterprise continues to grow. The average revenue of the top 100 fine chemical enterprises exceeds 10 billion yuan, the backbone enterprises have formed strong competitiveness in the fields of polyurethane and fluorine chemicals, and small and medium-sized enterprises have been deeply engaged in subdivided fields, and more than 1,000 specialized and new "little giant" enterprises have emerged. Fourth, the development of agglomeration has achieved results. There are more than 400 chemical parks in the country that will take fine work as the leading industry, and the eastern coastal and central and western regions have formed a number of fine chemical characteristic industrial clusters by relying on the advantages of market, transportation and resources. However, it should also be noted that the development of the fine chemical industry is still facing problems such as low R&D investment of enterprises, weak foundation of technical equipment, need to improve the supply capacity of high-end products, greater pressure on safety and environmental protection, and insufficient upstream and downstream coordination, which restricts the high-quality development of the industry. The introduction of the "Implementation Plan" aims to give full play to the advantages of the mainland's petrochemical industry with a strong foundation, a large market scale and rich application scenarios, and will vigorously develop the refinement work as the main direction of industrial chain extension, chain reinforcement, transformation and upgrading, and guide the high-end, green and intelligent development of the fine chemical industry, so as to provide a solid foundation for promoting new industrialization and building a manufacturing power. 2. What are the overall considerations of the Implementation Plan? The "Implementation Plan" is guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implements the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, adheres to the combination of demand traction and innovation drive, cultivates new momentum for development by enhancing the supply capacity of high-end products, builds a solid foundation for development by improving the level of green security, enhances development resilience with intensive layout, and does a good job in key products, key technologies, key enterprises, and key parks, so as to create an efficient, green, and safe industrial system. The first is to clarify the positioning and refine the implementation of relevant planning policy requirements. Implement the relevant requirements of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" and the outline of the long-term goals for 2035, the deployment of the National Conference on the Promotion of New Industrialization, and the guidance on the high-quality development of the petrochemical industry in the "14th Five-Year Plan", and put forward the quantitative goals, specific tasks and key projects for the innovation and development of fine chemicals. The second is to focus on the key points and promote the extension of the industrial chain to supplement the chain and strengthen the chain. Develop a number of high-end products, break through a number of key technologies, and enhance the competitiveness of superior products; Promote a number of green, safe and intelligent advanced technologies; Build a number of parks with distinctive characteristics of leading industries and leading factor benefits. The third is to strengthen coordination and optimize the innovation system and industrial layout. Lay out the fine chemical innovation platform and improve the innovation system; Strengthen leading enterprises, cultivate small and medium-sized enterprises, and stimulate the vitality of collaborative innovation; Guide local governments to focus on leading industries, extend the chain, supplement the chain, and strengthen the chain, create characteristic industrial clusters, and build an industrial pattern with complementary advantages. 3. What are the main objectives of the Implementation Plan? The "Implementation Plan" proposes that by 2027, the refined extension of the petrochemical industry will make positive progress: in terms of product supply, a number of key products will be conquered around the needs of economic and social development, and the ability to guarantee the supply chain of key industrial chains will be further enhanced; In terms of technical research, breakthroughs have been made in a number of green, safe and intelligent key technologies, the level of energy efficiency has been significantly improved, the total amount of volatile organic compound emissions has been greatly reduced, and the level of intrinsic safety has been significantly improved. In terms of enterprise cultivation, we will cultivate more than 5 world-class enterprises with strong innovation-leading and collaborative integration capabilities, and cultivate more than 500 specialized, special and new "little giant" enterprises; In terms of agglomeration development, more than 20 chemical parks dominated by fine chemicals and with strong competitive advantages will be created, and an innovative development system will be formed with the integration of large and medium-sized enterprises and the coordination of upstream and downstream enterprises. 4. How does the "Implementation Plan" improve effective supply? At present, the fine chemical products in mainland China are mainly concentrated in the low-end field, mainly raw materials and general-purpose products, and the supply of high-end products such as high-end scientific research reagents, high-performance catalysts, special surfactants, and high-performance resins is insufficient, which affects the safety and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain. It is urgent to focus on the needs of key industrial chains and supply chains, increase technical research in the direction of extending and strengthening the chain, make up for the shortcomings of the industrial chain, and enhance the competitiveness of advantageous products. The "Implementation Plan" proposes three measures: First, promote the extension of the chain of traditional industries. Promote the high-end extension of traditional industries, create a specialized, refined, characteristic and novel product system, and enhance the added value and competitiveness of products. The second is to speed up the research of key products. Improve the supply capacity of key products in the fields of high-end polyolefins, special rubber, high-performance fibers, high-performance membrane materials, electronic chemicals, new catalysts, and high-end reagents, and strengthen the supporting support of important equipment, high-end instruments, and control software for fine chemicals. The third is to promote the quality of superior products. Promote the implementation of the "three products" action in industries with comparative advantages such as coatings, dyes, fluorine and silicon organic materials, vigorously develop service-oriented manufacturing, and provide customized, functional, specialized, and serialized products and services. The "Implementation Plan" sets up two columns, and the "Industrial Chain Extension Project" proposes the key directions for the extension of petrochemical, coal chemical, salt (mining) and biochemical industry chains; The "Product Quality Improvement Project" proposes the direction of product quality improvement such as coatings, dyes (pigments), pesticides, special chemicals, and new chemical materials, and guides the industry to extend the industrial chain, optimize the product structure, and create characteristic advantages. 5. How does the "Implementation Plan" promote the technological transformation of safety and environmental protection? At present, the safety and environmental protection pressure of the fine chemical industry in mainland China is greater. Fine chemical production is mostly batch reaction, involving nitrification, peroxidation, diazotization and other key supervision of hazardous chemical processes, process wastewater has high salt content and complex composition, difficult to treat, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emission intensity in some industries, low degree of automatic control of equipment, the number of old devices is increasing year by year, there are certain safety and environmental protection risks, it is urgent to accelerate technological transformation, improve the level of green and safe production. The "Implementation Plan" puts forward two measures: First, promote technological transformation. Accelerate the development of common technologies and complete sets of equipment for intrinsic safety, carbon reduction and pollution reduction, and efficient and comprehensive utilization of resources, dynamically update the catalog of technologies and products encouraged to be promoted and applied in the petrochemical industry, promote the acceleration of the whole process automation transformation or low-risk substitution of key supervised hazardous processes, encourage enterprises to speed up the renewal of old production equipment and energy-using equipment, and improve the digital level of key links. The second is to strengthen benchmarking. Promote the creation of green products (processes), green factories, green industrial parks and green supply chain management enterprises, cultivate industrial Internet platforms and smart chemical parks at the park, group and industry levels, and create a benchmark project of "industrial Internet + safe production". The "Implementation Plan" sets up a column of "Safety and Environmental Protection Intelligent Technology Improvement Project", clearly proposes to encourage the development of safe, green and intelligent technologies, and guides the industry to improve the operation efficiency, green safety level and lean service capabilities of the device. 6. How does the "Implementation Plan" improve the innovation system? At present, the fine chemical innovation system in mainland China is still not sound enough. Fine chemical products have strong special attributes, high R&D and service costs, insufficient R&D investment in domestic fine chemical enterprises, weak awareness of upstream and downstream collaborative research, and lack of exploration of typical application scenarios, which affect product promotion and application and iterative improvement of performance. The approval cycle of chemical pilot projects is long and the difficulty in landing is prominent, which affects the industrialization process of new technologies. It is urgent to improve the fine chemical innovation system and accelerate the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements. The "Implementation Plan" puts forward three measures: First, the layout and construction of an innovation platform. Strengthen the construction of national key laboratories and manufacturing innovation centers, give full play to the role of industrial innovation alliances, promote upstream and downstream collaborative innovation and production and application demonstration and guidance, and lay out a number of pilot platforms around key common technologies. The second is to promote the implementation of pilot projects. Formulate management specifications for the construction of chemical pilot plants, strengthen policy coordination such as industry, emergency response and environmental protection, further optimize the safety assessment and environmental impact assessment of chemical pilot plants based on professional evaluation, actively carry out pilot tests of key processes and new processes, and accelerate the transformation of R&D results into productivity. The third is to promote collaborative innovation between upstream and downstream. Guide the leading enterprises in the industrial chain to form an industry-university-research innovation consortium with relevant enterprises, universities, institutes, etc., accelerate the collaborative research, verification and application of new technologies, new products and new equipment, comprehensively improve the basic capabilities of the industrial chain, and continue to promote the "one-stop" application demonstration of advanced technologies and products such as high-voltage cable insulation and shielding materials, electronic special gases, and microchannels. The "Implementation Plan" sets up a column of "Fine Chemical Pilot Platform Construction Project" to encourage local governments to focus on key common technologies such as phosphate rock resource efficient utilization technology, fine chemical low-risk and efficient production common technology to carry out pilot platform construction, and create conditions for accelerating the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. 7. How does the "Implementation Plan" promote the cultivation of strong enterprises? At present, the fine chemical enterprises in mainland China are generally small, scattered and weak, the industry concentration is low, the advantages of specialization, serialization and large-scale development are insufficient, and the competitiveness of enterprises is not strong. The selection, use, introduction and training system of industry talents is not perfect, there is a lack of high-level leading talents, and the supply of high-quality technical and skilled talents is insufficient, making it difficult to effectively support the high-quality development of the industry. It is urgent to further enhance the vitality of enterprise development and expand the talent team in the industry. The "Implementation Plan" proposes three measures: First, cultivate and expand leading enterprises. Promote large-scale petrochemical enterprises to increase key technology research on high-end products, and enhance international competitiveness and industrial chain control. The second is to vigorously cultivate small and medium-sized enterprises. Integrate small and medium-sized enterprises into the management of important industrial chains and supply chains, cultivate specialized, special and new small and medium-sized enterprises and "little giant" enterprises, individual champion enterprises and high-tech enterprises in subdivided fields, and consolidate and enhance their domestic and global market positions. The third is to speed up the construction of a talent team. Implement the "Manufacturing Talent Support Plan", support the construction of a public service platform for talent training and safety improvement in the petrochemical industry, guide colleges and universities to strengthen the construction of disciplines in the fields of fine chemicals, guide local governments to establish and strengthen industrial vocational colleges, and deepen the integration of industry and education and collaborative education. 8. How does the "Implementation Plan" optimize the industrial layout? At present, the admission rate of fine chemical enterprises in mainland China is less than 50%, the leading industrial characteristics of some chemical parks are not distinctive enough, the industrial chain and supply chain correlation between enterprises in the park is not strong, and the homogeneous competition is serious, which fails to play the role of the park in promoting enterprise collaboration, industrial coupling, cost reduction and efficiency increase. The industrial layout is heavy in the east and light in the west, with the eastern coastal provinces occupying a dominant position, while the fine chemical industry base in the central and western regions is relatively weak, and the regional development is unbalanced. It is urgent to accelerate the improvement of the development quality of chemical parks, guide industrial transfer in an orderly manner, and promote regional division of labor and cooperation and coordinated development. The "Implementation Plan" puts forward two measures: First, promote the standardized development of the park. Strengthen the standardized construction and identification management of chemical parks, issue and implement guidelines for the competitiveness evaluation and intelligent evaluation of chemical parks, and cultivate parks with competitive advantages. Promote the joint layout of basic chemical raw material production enterprises and fine chemical enterprises, and promote industrial synergy and coupling, resource recycling, and energy cascade utilization. The second is to promote coordinated regional development. Organize and carry out activities such as the transfer and docking of the chemical industry, guide the local scientific planning to extend the fine chemical industry chain, promote the creation of fine chemical industry clusters in subdivided fields, and form an industrial development pattern with its own characteristics and complementary advantages in the east, middle and west. The "Implementation Plan" sets up a column of "Intensive Development Project of Industrial Clusters", clarifies the relevant requirements for hazardous chemical production projects to enter chemical parks, strengthens the comprehensive diagnosis of chemical parks, promotes the scientific preparation and planning of chemical parks, and strives to build chemical parks with distinctive characteristics and complete chains; Guide the local government to coordinate the resource and environmental factor endowment, industrial development foundation, market capacity and "double carbon" goals, and scientifically lay out the fine chemical industry. 9. How does the Implementation Plan improve the development environment? At present, the domestic "discoloration" and "nimby effect" still exist, and some enterprises are facing problems such as difficulty in project landing, difficulty in entering the park, and difficulty in financing, which also affects the source of chemical students in colleges and vocational colleges to a certain extent. The accelerated adjustment of relevant international conventions and chemical management rules has had a certain impact on domestic chemical production and trade, and it is urgent to respond appropriately and actively participate in the formulation of international rules. The "Implementation Plan" puts forward four measures: First, strengthen service guarantees. Do a good job in project information disclosure, improve the expert guidance service mechanism, strengthen the assistance and guidance of high-risk process fine chemical enterprises and parks, and improve the protection of chemical enterprises' innovation and development, project implementation, financing guarantees, and stable employment. The second is to strengthen publicity and guidance. Give full play to the role of intermediary organizations such as associations as bridges, publicize the development results of industries and enterprises to the public, and organize experts, professional institutions, public welfare organizations and other third-party forces to provide consultation and guidance for public participation in decision-making. The third is to implement responsible care. Encourage enterprises to establish and improve HSE, ESG and other management systems, organize and carry out special column publicity, public open days and other activities, and invite public representatives to visit enterprises on the spot, so as to better fulfill their social responsibilities. Fourth, participate in the formulation of international rules. Participate in the formulation and revision of chemical management systems such as the "Global Harmonized Classification and Labeling System for Chemicals", track and judge the impact of adjustments to relevant international conventions and regional chemical management rules on our industry, guide enterprises to actively respond to changes in the external environment, and ensure the stable and healthy development of the industry. 10. How to promote the implementation of the Implementation Plan? The "Implementation Plan" proposes three safeguard measures. First, strengthen organizational leadership. Strengthen departmental coordination and ministry-provincial linkage, and guide local governments to incorporate the innovation and development of the fine chemical industry into the key work of their own regions and departments. Improve the mechanism for tackling key problems, encourage backbone enterprises to increase investment in innovation, and make up for the shortcomings of the industrial chain. Give full play to industry associations, societies, and consulting