In China’s prime chemical production province of Jiangsu, how will 57% off-industrial park chemical manufacturers be regulated?

On May 18, China's Jiangsu Provincial Government gave an instruction requesting strengthened regulation of chemical productions outside centralized chemical production locations. This is guideline given by the provincial administration for the first time concerning regulation of chemical productions outside chemical industrial parks.

Last November, the result of verification of Jiangsu’s chemical industrial park was formally announced, where 14 industrial parks were verified as conformable chemical industrial parks while 15 industrial parks were verified as centralized chemical production zones. Hence, regulation of key chemical productions outside centralized locations, which will be subject to strict monitor, has become a focus of attention among chemical industry, as these chemical productions involve segmented chemical sectors and individualized production activities, which require different and precision regulating measures to be put in place.

After four years of regulatory compliance actions, 4,454 chemical manufacturers were closed down in Jiangsu Province. At present, there are still 2,341 chemical manufacturers operating in the province, of which 1,342 manufacturers are located outside chemical industrial parks or centralized production zones, accounting for 57% approximately. Chemical manufacturers outside industrial parks cannot be all relocated yet in industrial parks in a short time, how to formulate a standardized regulation of these manufacturers has become a matter of urgency. Moreover, due to the generally tightened chemical regulation policies, some government administrations have classified chemical crude,  chemical-oriented electronical material, synthetic fiber, food additives and even daily chemicals into chemicals, which impose certain impact on local economy and industry development.

Key chemical manufacturers subject to strict monitor refer to leading manufacturers operating in the field of segmented chemical sectors located outside centralized chemical production zones, they play a leading, guiding or supporting role in the high-quality chemical development in the region. Jiangsu Provincial Government has issued strict verification criteria and proposed a minimum criterion based on the economic scale and market influence of manufacturers – the average sale value in the previous year or the recent three years should reach RMB300 million in Southern Jiangsu, RMB250 million in Central Jiangsu and RMB200 million in Northern Jiangsu. For strategic emerging industries or manufacturers that can meet relevant requirement, the sale value can be a little lower, which however should be in principle no less than RMB100 million.

For non-key manufacturers outside the park, Jiangsu Provincial Government has requested different and precision control measure, where manufacturers that can stay lawfully should make improvement and upgrade; manufacturers that are shut down for correction should make correction within the given deadline; manufacturers that fail or no chance to meet the requirement should be closed down; manufacturers that are ordered to relocate or restructure should speed up the process of relocation or restructuring while their former plants should be closed down in due course.