Gui Tongsheng: Firm Confidence, Maintain Strength, Cohesion, Consensus, Self-discipline Management and Fully Promote the High-quality Development of Hubei Cement Industry

Recently, the fifth general meeting of the seventh session of Hubei Cement Industry Association and the annual meeting of cement enterprises in the whole province were held in Hanchuan, Hubei Province. Gui Tongsheng, President of Hubei Cement Industry Association, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Gezhouba Cement Co., Ltd., attended the meeting and made a speech.

Firm Confidence, Maintain Strength, Cohesion, Consensus, Self-discipline Management and Full Promotion

In the past year, the cement industry has faced unprecedented difficulties and challenges, and has made unprecedented exploration and efforts. Faced with the impact of multiple unexpected factors, such as increasing downward pressure on the economy, frequent epidemics and weakening market demand, the cement industry in Hubei has worked together to tide over the difficulties and achieved hard-won results. First, take the initiative to deal with the plight of the industry. Focusing on the goal of "steady growth" and vigorously promoting the structural reform of the supply side, the annual cement output reached about 110 million tons, ranking eighth in the country, down 6.92% year-on-year, better than national average. 3. Cement enterprises in the whole province took the overall situation into account, stressed unity, deepened industry self-discipline, conscientiously implemented the peak-staggering production policy, took the initiative to carry out self-discipline kiln shutdown, and overfulfilled 160% of the annual peak-staggering production plan. Third, green development has achieved remarkable results. Huaxin Cement , Gezhouba Cement and of carbon peak and carbon neutralization. Huaxin Cement added 16.3 million cubic meters of new commercial mixing capacity in the whole year; Gezhouba Cement actively laid out green building materials, new materials, clean energy and other fields. Fifth, actively serve the overall situation of the industry. High-quality hosting of the National Conference on Anti-epidemic and Steady Growth of Leaders of Key Large Cement Enterprises, participating in the preparation of a series of national and industrial standards, and contributing Hubei's wisdom and strength to the high-quality development of the national cement industry. Sixth, industry governance has been continuously strengthened. Give full play to the role of the association as a bridge and link, cooperate with the competent authorities to actively carry out in-depth research on the operation of the industry and anti-monopoly, actively reflect demands, make suggestions and win support, and promote the healthy development of the industry. Seventh, Party building is leading more forcefully. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, enterprises carry out in-depth study and implementation activities around the idea of Xi Jinping and ecological civilization and the important exposition on carbon peak and carbon neutralization, and effectively transform Party building into a powerful leading force for the development of the industry.

These hard-won achievements fully prove that the high-quality development of Hubei cement industry can not be achieved without the support of the government, the leadership of associations, the demonstration of large enterprises, and the unity and self-discipline of all entrepreneurs. As long as we achieve consensus, resolute action, mutual benefit and mutual trust, the industry and enterprises will surely develop well. In the next stage, I think we should start from the following aspects:

First, we should unify our thinking and understanding to build a more solid community

of destiny in the industry. At present, the competition pattern of the cement industry has undergone profound changes, and all enterprises in the industry are a community of destiny. It is urgent for us to unify our ideological understanding and guide our action consciousness with ideological consciousness.

First, strengthen confidence in the development of the industry. This year is the first year to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Macroeconomic policies will continue to maintain sufficient counter-cyclical adjustment, and various measures to stabilize growth will be strengthened to improve efficiency. It is expected that the overall economic operation will improve; In terms of infrastructure, the policy of investing in infrastructure construction ahead of schedule is being implemented, and new special bonds are added throughout the year. 3. Overall, I judge that the demand for this year is basically the same as last year or slightly increased, and the situation in the second half of the year is better than that in the first half. We should correctly view the current situation facing the industry, strengthen our confidence and determination in the development of the industry, unify our thinking and understanding, keep pace with each other, and make every effort to promote the steady growth of the cement industry in Hubei.

Second, firmly establish the management concept of "price, cost and profit". At present, the cement industry has entered the era of high cost. In the case that the current situation of overcapacity has not been fundamentally improved, the behavior of increasing sales and benefits by lowering prices is neither rational nor sustainable, and will even lead the industry into a vicious circle of "price war". Practice has fully proved that reasonable benefit space is the basis of healthy development, transformation and upgrading of the industry, while price is the decisive factor of benefit. I hope that entrepreneurs will consistently maintain industry self-discipline, strengthen strategic determination, change the inherent view of purely pursuing high productivity utilization and high sales, change the irrational thinking of "price-for-volume", adhere to the management concept of "price, cost and profit", further strengthen self-restraint, and correctly handle the relationship between price, cost and profit. Reasonable transmission of cost pressures, resolutely put an end to short-sighted behavior such as dumping at low prices, and achieve stable confidence, stable prices and stable benefits.

Second, focus on the principal contradiction and promote the precise and effective

supply-side structural reform. From the perspective of long-term development, the principal contradiction and the biggest challenge facing the industry is still the serious overcapacity. We must adhere to the supply-side structural reform as the main line and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.

First, we will unswervingly promote capacity reduction. Faced with the requirements of green energy revolution, double control of energy consumption, promoting carbon peak, carbon neutralization and achieving synergy of pollution reduction and carbon reduction, the structural reform of the supply side of the industry has a long way to go. We should seriously replace production capacity, adopt more market-oriented and legalized methods, eliminate backward production capacity and promote high-end industries. Superior enterprises should firmly grasp the new opportunity period of strict energy consumption constraints, give full play to the advantages of large enterprises in terms of scale, capital, environmental protection and energy consumption, actively carry out mergers and reorganizations, enhance industry concentration, and lead the industry to gradually embark on the development path of orderly competition and cooperation, stable prices, full of vitality and healthy operation; Small and medium-sized enterprises should "hold together to keep warm" and promote the greening, low-carbon and energy-saving of production lines through joint reorganization and technological upgrading, so as to enhance the level of energy efficiency and competitiveness.

Second, increase the intensity of peak staggering production. At present, off-peak production is still an important means to regulate the dynamic balance of supply and demand in the cement market, and a magic weapon for the industry to cope with the downward demand and maintain the stability of the industry's efficiency. In 2022, the average shutdown time of a single production line in Hubei was more than 90 days, but the goal of balancing supply and demand was still not well achieved. This year, the peak-staggered production time in the surrounding provinces of Henan and Jiangxi has exceeded 100 days. On the basis of implementing the peak-staggered production policy of the Provincial Economic and Credit Department and the Department of Ecological Environment, we should increase the peak-staggered production, improve the matching degree between supply and demand, and promote the steady growth of the cement industry in Hubei Province according to the market supply and demand, price recovery and enterprise inventory.

Third, we should strengthen supervision over the implementation of peak staggering production. At present, peak-staggering production has entered the normal stage, but there are still some enterprises that are not resolute and thorough in carrying out peak-staggering production, which violates the original intention of peak-staggering production and damages the self-discipline basis of the industry. It is suggested to establish and improve the supervision mechanism for cement enterprises to implement peak-staggering production, smooth the supervision channels, build a reporting platform, clarify the reporting path and the feedback mechanism for the implementation of peak-staggering production policy, and punish enterprises that refuse to implement or flexibly implement peak-staggering production by means of differential electricity prices and sewage charges; The association should actively cooperate with the Provincial Economic and Credit Department to carry out peak staggering production supervision, enrich the means and methods of supervision, and promote the realization of rigid peak staggering, accurate peak staggering and effective peak staggering.

Thirdly, deepening transformation and innovation, promoting green, digital and intelligent

innovation of industry development is the first driving force for development. Under the background of "double carbon", all cement enterprises should strengthen forward-looking thinking and planning, and intensify innovation. We will make every effort to promote the transformation and upgrading of "green, digital and intelligent" cement industry in Hubei.

First, accelerate the pace of green and low-carbon development. Promoting the realization of carbon peak and carbon neutralization is the overall core work of the cement industry at present and in the future, and is also the historical mission and responsibility that all colleagues in the cement industry must shoulder. Cement enterprises in the whole province must actively implement the "double carbon" strategy, accurately understand and comprehensively implement the "Carbon Peak Implementation Plan for Building Materials Industry", scientifically handle the relationship between development and carbon reduction, and create green enterprises with lower carbon emissions, less energy consumption and more resource conservation; We should firmly promote energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformation and upgrading, increase capital investment, and make concerted efforts in upgrading production lines, research and application of energy-saving and consumption-reducing technologies, substitution of raw materials and fuels, and utilization of waste heat and energy, so as to create more green factories and energy efficiency leaders; We should strengthen the research and reserve of frontier technologies in the industry, and strengthen the research and development and application of technologies around the bottlenecks of key technologies for carbon emission reduction in the building materials industry, such as new calcination technologies, new cementitious materials, carbon capture and utilization.

The second is to accelerate the empowerment of scientific and technological innovation.Digital transformation is the inevitable trend of the development of the cement industry, the province's cement enterprises should actively comply with the development trend of digitalization and intellectualization, take "industrial digitalization, digital industrialization" as the direction, with the help of 5G, big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and other new technologies, enabling digital transformation, leading the transformation of production and management modes, and realizing business. Promote the fine management of each link and improve the comprehensive utilization efficiency of resources; focus on digital and intelligent transformation, build the core competitiveness of enterprises, and build a number of world-class excellent production lines and model factories; We should give full play to the coordinating role of associations and the leading role of large enterprises, carry out extensive technical exchanges and cooperation, promote the research and development of key core technologies, new products and new processes, and form more leading innovative achievements.

The three is to play a role in circular economy. Cement enterprises in the whole province should give full play to the technical advantages of co-disposal of cement kilns, expand the functions and functions of co-disposal of cement kilns, promote the reduction, recycling and harmless utilization of solid waste, act as "waste terminators" and "environmental purifiers", and play a role in building "waste-free cities" and fulfilling social responsibilities; We should strengthen cooperation with phosphorus chemical enterprises in the province, intensify efforts in the production of sulfuric acid by-product cement, cement retarder, super-sulfur gypsum slag cement from phosphogypsum, and further increase the use of phosphogypsum, so as to contribute to the comprehensive management of phosphogypsum resources and the high-quality development of the whole phosphorus chemical industry chain in our province.

Fourthly, to strengthen the construction of associations and better play the role

of serving the government and enterprises, associations are an important grasp to maintain the dynamic balance between supply and demand in the industry and create a good market environment, as well as an important force to promote the high-quality development of the cement industry. Practice has repeatedly proved that if the association is strong and cohesive, the enterprise will be good and competitive, and the construction and function of the association can only be strengthened but not weakened.

One is to strengthen the Party building of the association. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China points out that the management system of Party building in trade associations should be straightened out, and the relevant functions of "unified leadership of Party work in national trade associations and chambers of commerce" should be transferred to the newly established Central Social Work Department in the new round of "Party and State Institutional Reform Program", which profoundly shows that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China attaches great importance to Party building in trade associations. The association should adhere to the leadership of the Party, comprehensively strengthen the Party's construction, organically integrate the Party building work with the management of the association and the industry services, promote the association to play a better role in the industry governance system, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the industry in the right direction; We should take the lead in studying, implementing and promoting the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China into enterprises through various forms, base ourselves on the "two overall situations" and keep in mind the "great power of the country", actively share the worries of the Party, fulfill our duties for the country and solve difficulties for the people, and make unremitting efforts to achieve the goal of the second century.

The second is to strengthen the self-construction of the association. The association should further deepen the construction of service function and service capacity, focus on the needs of high-quality development of the industry, conduct in-depth investigation and research on hot and difficult points, actively reflect the demands of enterprises, and better play the role of bridge and link; Vigorously carry out policy analysis and research, focusing on industry economic operation, green low-carbon development, scientific and technological innovation and other fields, and put forward policy recommendations to provide reference for government scientific decision-making and enterprise production and operation; Actively "go out" to carry out industry communication and exchanges, learn from the experience and practices of excellent industry associations in governance, and strive to build the association into an organization that can be trusted, used by the government, reliable members, inseparable from the industry, and has a good social reputation.

Third, strengthen the image building of the industry. The association should strengthen positive publicity and guidance, actively demonstrate the outstanding achievements of the cement industry in implementing the national strategy, promoting low-carbon development, deepening transformation and innovation, and fulfilling social responsibilities, so as to create a good public opinion environment for the development of the industry; It is necessary to vigorously publicize the advanced industry culture concept, expand the consensus circle, and promote the concepts of "industry interests are higher than enterprise interests, and enterprise interests are in the interests of the industry" and "cost and profit" to be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; large enterprises should actively fulfill their social responsibilities, actively prepare and publish annual corporate social responsibility reports, enhance the understanding and recognition of all sectors of society, and strive to improve the public image of the cement industry.

Leaders, directors and colleagues, facing the new situation, new tasks and new requirements of the cement industry, I firmly believe that under the correct leadership of the provincial Party Committee and the provincial government, under the care and guidance of the competent government departments and the China Cement Association, as long as we firmly develop confidence, maintain strategic strength and adhere to self-discipline. It will surely promote the high-quality development of the cement industry in Hubei and make new and greater contributions to the construction of a new national development pattern pioneer area in Hubei!