Speed up transformation of traditional industries

Traditional industries are still the major drives for economic   development. The size of the province’s five traditional industries –green   chemical, modern high-efficiency agriculture, cultural creativity, tourism   and modern finance – rank at the top in the country. However, they are still   around the middle-to-low end of the value chain and need to be transformed   and upgraded.

Shandong is trying to become an advanced province in   agriculture by integrating it with secondary and tertiary industries and   developing new forms, such as circular and smart agriculture. Some cities are   building rural complexes which contain farm villages, popular science bases,   and shopping towns. 

Makrolon is an essential chemical raw material that can   be used in national defense, aerospace and daily life. In the past, most of   the makrolon was imported from other countries or produced by   foreign-invested plants in China. Luxi Chemical Group Co Ltd recently   developed the technology to produce makrolon by a phosgene method. Sun   Caihong, deputy head of Luxi’s department of technology innovation, said that   the company’s products are of high added value. 

There is no strict line between traditional and   emerging industries. New models and forms can be adopted to transform   traditional industries. The ceramics factory in Zibo city went bankrupt in the   1990s, but was reborn in 2017 with the name “1954 ceramics cultural   innovation park”. The original furnace was transformed into a modern western   restaurant and the workshop became a museum to tell the development history   of the Chinese ceramics industry. This is worth considering as the coal and   iron industries try to learn how to find a development direction for old   industrial parks.

The province released Identification and Management Methods for Professional Industrial   Parks this February, which stipulates that each professional industrial   park should have a featured pillar industry whose operating income should   account for at least 80 percent of the park’s total. This can help   concentrate high-quality resources to form large-scale industrial clusters of   high quality. “Regional competitiveness lies in industrial clusters. Each   city should foster pillar industries to improve the province’s industrial   structure,” explained Yang Yunguang, an official responsible for promoting   the new and old kinetic energy conversion projects.

A precondition to transforming traditional industry is   to remove low-end excess capacity to create development space for new kinetic   energy. In 2017, Shandong reduced its production of crude steel, pig iron and   coal, and shut down Shan Steel Co Ltd which was not scheduled to close until 2020.  

[Photo/WeChat account: sd_photo]