Technology is the Main Problem Restricting the Development of China’s Valve Industry

In China’s current valve market, in addition to low-pressure valves that have reached a level acceptable to the international market, high-pressure valves still rely on imports. Under the situation that the macro economy continues to be optimistic, most of the production and sales indicators of the valve industry have maintained rapid growth, but due to the impact of price wars, industry sales revenue and profits have fallen sharply compared with last year. With the steady recovery of the world economy after the COVID-19, the import and export of  China’s valve products has also increased, but the competition in the international valve market is also intensifying. As there is still a big gap between high-end technology and large foreign manufacturers, product technology will become a bottleneck restricting the development of my country’s valve products in the next period of time.

Valve is an indispensable fluid control device in various sectors of the national economy such as petroleum, chemical industry, power station, long-distance pipeline, shipbuilding, nuclear industry, various cryogenic engineering, aerospace, and marine oil extraction. After years of development, the number of valve companies in China ranks first in the world, with more than 6,000 valve companies of various sizes, of which 900 have an annual output value of more than 5 million yuan. Judging from the product situation, my country’s valve industry has been able to produce more than a dozen categories of products, such as gate valves, globe valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, safety valves, check valves, throttle valves, stopcock valves, pressure reducing valves, diaphragm valves, For traps, emergency shut-off valves, etc., the maximum operating temperature of z* is 570℃, the low of z* is -196℃, the pressure of z* is 600Mpa, and the maximum diameter of z* is 5350 mm. In addition, according to statistics from relevant departments, my country’s annual valve market turnover is as high as 50 billion yuan, of which more than 10 billion yuan of the market is occupied by foreign valve companies. Although China’s valve industry has undergone vigorous development after reform and opening up, it has achieved considerable results. But at present, there are still some problems in my country’s valve industry. For example, my country’s valve companies are mainly low-level, small-scale, family-based enterprises. In terms of products, due to repeated investment, insufficient technology investment and introduction, the leading products of my country’s valve companies are still low-quality mass products.

At present, all kinds of valves produced by Chinese enterprises generally have shortcomings such as external leakage, internal leakage, low appearance quality, short life, inflexible operation, and unreliable valve electric and pneumatic devices. Some products are only equivalent to the 80s of the last century. International level at the beginning of the decade. However, some valves required for high temperature and high pressure and key installations still rely on imports. In addition, the industrial structure of the valve industry in my country, the industrial chain of the valve industry, and the degree of professionalization of the industry are far from those of foreign companies.

The reason for the low quality of domestic valve products is: due to the rapid expansion of the market, and the original state-owned valve enterprises have shut down and relocated, the original machinery industry level was not high, and township enterprises (private enterprises) developed rapidly. However, the starting point of township enterprises is low, the technical force is very weak, the equipment is primitive, and most of the products are imitated, especially the low-pressure valves for water supply and drainage, which have serious problems.

　　In contrast to these problems, the market prospects of my country’s valve industry in the future are very broad. This mainly benefits from:

1. National policy support. As the country accelerates the gradual advancement of the policy of revitalizing the equipment manufacturing industry, the development of general-purpose basic manufacturing will further receive key support.

2. Strong demand in the valve product market. The state-owned economy continued to develop steadily. Investment in fixed assets has gradually expanded. In particular, the start of several century projects such as “West-East Gas Transmission”, “West-East Electricity Transmission”, and “South-to-North Water Diversion” projects require a large number of valve products; in addition, my country is facing the arrival of the industrial age, petrochemical industry, power sector , The metallurgical sector, the chemical industry and urban construction and other major valve users will increase the demand for valve products. For example, during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the total valve forecasts required for large and medium-sized coal-fired power generation projects in the power industry are: total valve demand of 153,000 tons, average annual demand of 30,600 tons; total valve demand of 3.96 billion yuan , The average annual demand is 792 million yuan.

3. It has been many years since China joined the WTO. The international trade threshold has been lowered and developed countries have adjusted their product structure. China is gradually becoming the world’s largest manufactures plant, the processing and production of valve products is facing greater room for development.

Therefore, as long as companies can seize opportunities, strengthen R&D capabilities, and continuously improve product technology content and product quality, they will be able to occupy an active position in the broad market competition.

1. Companies with technological innovation capabilities have long-term competitive advantages. It can use high technology to transform traditional industries, actively introduce, digest, and absorb advanced technologies and equipment at home and abroad, improve the level of enterprise equipment, accelerate equipment renewal and technological innovation, realize the optimization and upgrade of the valve industry and its products, and increase the added value of products. Such valve companies will have a long-term competitive advantage.

2. Leading enterprises in the industry will develop rapidly. These leading companies not only have advantages in scale, but also in technology and capital. With the gradual improvement of the market’s requirements for valve product quality, these companies will gain development opportunities in fierce competition. For example, my country is currently vigorously developing the nuclear power industry. At the same time, construction projects such as the West-East Gas Pipeline and the oil pipeline connecting Central Asia will start. This will help my country’s leading smart valve companies such as Hongcheng Co., Ltd. and nuclear power valve leading company China Nuclear Power Suzhou. Opportunities develop and grow.