AgroPages-Chemical enterprises have accelerated progress to resume production, but they are still fraught with difficulties-Agricultural news

By Think Real - In Feb. 2020, COVID-19 epidemic has been further controlled in China, so enterprises started to make preparation for their production resumption. In order to get a better understanding of work resumption and difficulties that enterprises in different chemical parks encounter, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation performed telephone survey on 45 chemical parks in China on 18-19 Feb.

The survey covers 32 relatively large chemical parks of 45 chemical parks, of which 25 chemical parks are listed in 2019 top 30 chemical parks in China, in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong and other 12 autonomous regions, cities and provinces.

Different parks have speeded up enterprises’ progress to resume work and restore production

It is shown in the survey outcomes that among 32 chemical parks,

80% enterprises have resumed work in 16 parks;

50%～79% enterprises have resumed work in 10 parks;

less than 50% enterprises have resumed work in 6 parks.

It can be learned from the statistical result that while capacity in most enterprises resuming work reached more than 60%, it remained around 30%～40% in Hangzhou Bay Shangyu Economic and Technology Development Area and Maoming High-tech Industrial Development Zone due to logistics impact and lack of personnel.

According to the progress of work resumption, all chemical parks investigated imposed registration for work resumption, set out requirements for epidemic prevention and control, and requested that only enterprises that meet requirements can resume work. At present, the overall progress of work resumption in enterprises proceeds in an orderly manner. Most enterprises in 32 parks investigated will resume work at the beginning of March, while a few enterprises will postpone work restoration to the end of March.

From the perspective of geographical location, since Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang are major chemical manufactures in China, leading enterprises at different parks in these regions have not suspended their production or have all resumed production.

Although the epidemic has been mitigated, but it has still not been combated completely, so enterprises face various difficulties in resuming work

It is concluded from the survey that enterprises in chemical parks mainly encounter following problems in their process to resume work and restore production.

First, it is difficult for employees from other provinces to resume work as affected by the epidemic. Enterprises in the south China and chemical parks in coastal cities are adversely impacted, because some employees from other provinces fail to go back to the companies amid prevention and control of the epidemic, and if even staff can return to the companies, they are required to be quarantined for 14 days with full pay, placing great pressure on enterprises.

Second, purchase of raw material as well as delivery and sales of product are affected due to logistic restriction and insufficient enterprises resuming work in upstream and downstream. It is not uncommon that enterprises cannot make products with full productivity due to failure to have raw materials in a timely manner. Besides, some enterprises have a high productivity, but fail to delivery their products to customers, so they have full inventory, and need to find a new warehouse.

Third, there is a lack of protective equipment, especially masks. Masks available for enterprises to use in their work restoration are badly needed because masks are allocated by different local governments. Some parks require that enterprises should have necessary protective equipment, so some enterprises cannot resume work because they fail to meet the requirement. In addition, inadequate administrative committee and centralized observation site pose considerable challenges on enterprises with numerous employees.

Furthermore, affected by the epidemic, some research institutes, trading companies and other enterprises with plenty of employees still have not resumed work yet, and only a few employees provide services for basic affairs, so it is expected that some key project designs and researches that are slowed down will be delayed.

According to the survey, while parks reported difficulties in resuming work, they also provided some exciting news:

Most of the employees in chemical parks in Shandong are local people, so enterprises do not have a severe problem in employees’ resuming work.

Since Jiangsu and Zhejiang have adopted measures to prevention epidemic, resume work and restore production earlier, enterprises are doing well in getting their employees to resume work.

There is a small influence on in-province logistics and transportation in Shandong and Guangdong.

Survey report shows that less strict policies are adopted to restrict enterprise to resume work and restore production. For example, some park in Shandong introduced the policy of “work resumption with commitment” that allows enterprises to resume work first, and apply for the approval later. Such model has also been adopted in Futian, Shenzhen.