Recently, the Department of Economy and Information of Hubei Province and the Department of Ecology and Environment of Hubei Province jointly issued the Notice on Effectively Performing the Normalized Peak Staggering Production of Cement Industry in 2024 (E Jing Xin Raw Materials [2023] 172) (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), and the Cement Business Department and the Marketing Department fully understood the spirit of the Notice. To organize the < a href = "https://price.ccement.com/Price_list-1-s0-e0-p0-c0-k100059-b0." of cement in the province, the main contents of the Notice are interpreted as follows. Make progress
while maintaining stability, Differentiated Staggered Kiln
Shutdown Organizes Production
Strictly According to Approved Production Capacity — — Interpretation
of Notice on Normalized Staggered Production of Cement Industry in Hubei Province in 2024 Yang Hongbing, Guo Shiqing, Wang Xingpeng
(I)
< IMG SRC = "https://img7.ccement.com/richtext/img/gorrl09991u1704611290490. is to safeguard the government's approval of project filing (examination and approval), The seriousness of the examination and approval work also protects the enthusiasm of compliance production enterprises and promotes fair competition among enterprises. The
single peak-staggering production policy based on "days" has gradually failed with the transformation of production and the decline of the market. China's cement industry has entered a long-term and global era of overcapacity. At present, the overcapacity rate has exceeded 40%, and the kiln operation rate in many provinces has been less than 50%. Demand will continue to decline in the future, and the contradiction between supply and demand will become more acute. The Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Steady Growth, Structural Adjustment and Benefit Increase of Building Materials Industry (GBF [2016] No.34) proposes to promote the structural reform of the supply side through measures such as "capacity replacement" and "peak staggering production", so as to promote the transformation, upgrading and healthy development of the building materials industry. From the actual effect, although the peak-shifting production has reduced the number of operating days, many enterprises have increased the production capacity by 20% -50% in order to pursue short-term interests. For some clinker production lines with an approved capacity of 4000tpd, the kiln diameter capacity is mostly more than 5000tpd, while the actual output is more than 6000tpd. The actual total output of clinker has not been reduced because of peak staggering, and the total energy consumption, pollutant emissions and carbon emissions have not been reduced because of peak staggering.
The more the peak is staggered and the kiln is shut down, the more the production is increased and transformed; the more the production is increased and transformed, the more the days of peak staggering and kiln shutdown are forced to increase, forming a vicious circle. Enterprises eventually invested a lot of money to increase production and transformation, in exchange for 100 days or even more than 200 days of kiln shutdown, almost becoming "zombie enterprises" (reference standard for zombie enterprises: production and operation difficulties caused by shutdown for half a year or more than a year).
Strictly organizing production according to the approved production capacity and strictly implementing the number of days of kiln shutdown are the necessary means for the reform of cement clinker supply side, pollution reduction and carbon reduction. Under the background of cement overcapacity, the essence of supply-side reform is to control clinker production, and the essence of carbon neutralization is the peak of total greenhouse gas emissions. The clinker output is the product of the production line operation days and the kiln output, while the total amount of pollutants, energy consumption and carbon emissions are positively correlated with the clinker output. Only by controlling the production line operation days and the kiln output at the same time can the total amount of clinker supply and emission be effectively controlled. It is the legal responsibility of enterprises to organize production in
strict accordance with the approved production capacity and compliance. In the List of Major Changes in Cement Construction Projects (Trial), it is specified that "an increase of 10% or more in the production capacity of cement clinker" is a major change. Law of the People's Republic of China on Environmental Impact Assessment If the scale of a construction project has changed significantly, the construction unit shall re-submit the environmental impact assessment document of the construction project for approval. The Measures for Energy Conservation Review of Fixed Assets Investment Projects stipulates that if the actual comprehensive energy consumption exceeds 10% or more of the approved level of energy conservation review, the construction unit shall submit an application for change to the original energy conservation review authority. It can be understood that if an enterprise produces more than 10% of its approved production capacity, it will violate laws and regulations such as the Environmental Impact Assessment Law of the People's Republic of China and the Measures for Energy Conservation Review of Fixed Assets Investment Projects.
In recent years, environmental protection inspectors have expressed concern about the production of excess capacity and excess energy consumption. In 2022, the second round of the Fourth Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group of the Central Committee carried out eco-environmental protection supervision in Tibet Autonomous Region, which raised the problem of inadequate control of cement clinker production capacity in the whole region. In 2023, Hubei Eco-environmental Protection Inspector also announced a typical case that the total energy consumption of an industrial project in Jingmen exceeded the total approved amount. Production is organized
strictly according to the approved production capacity, which increases the number of days of kiln shutdown compared with the situation of overproduction and peak staggering production. Taking the clinker production line from 4000tpd to 6000tpd as an example, the kiln will be shut down for 70 days based on peak staggering. If the production is carried out according to the approved capacity, the annual clinker output will be reduced by 590,000 tons in 295 days, which will increase the kiln shutdown time by 98 days on the basis of 6000tpd kiln output.
(II)
< IMG SRC = "https://img7.ccement.com/richtext/img/h7lug8ivsz1704611307855. basic shutdown days 70 days, 30-day discount for enterprises with environmental protection performance of Grade A; 18-day discount for enterprises with environmental protection performance of Grade B, collaborative disposal production line and energy efficiency leader; 5-day discount for state-level green factories. Preferential policies are not repeated. It is conducive to guiding enterprises to reduce pollution, reduce carbon and develop green. Grading the performance of key industries in
heavily polluted weather is based on differentiated indicators such as pollution control technology, unorganized emissions, monitoring and control level and environmental management level of enterprises, and grading the level of air pollution prevention and control of enterprises in key industries is an effective starting point for actively and effectively responding to heavily polluted weather, implementing differentiated emission reduction measures and implementing scientific and precise management and control. Enterprises that achieve performance A/B not only need to invest in pollutant treatment facilities, but also increase the cost of maintaining ultra-low emission operation, which contributes to the prevention and control of air pollution, and should be given peak staggering preferences. In order to guide cement enterprises to implement ultra-low emission transformation and return to the original intention of peak staggering.
Cement kiln co-disposal is the core technical route for the industry to achieve "pollution reduction and carbon reduction", whether it is the "Notice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Further Normalized Peak Staggering Production of Cement" or the "Performance Grading and Emission Reduction Measures for Key Industries in Heavily Polluted Weather". All of them put forward that "the co-processing production line can not stagger the peak, but the production load should be reduced appropriately". The Notice follows the spirit of relevant documents and refines the amount of disposal, which is more accurate and scientific.
In the past two years, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued documents such as "Several Opinions on Strict Energy Efficiency Constraints to Promote Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in Key Areas" (Development and Reform Industry [2021] 1464) and "Benchmarking Level and Benchmarking Level of Energy Efficiency in Key Industrial Areas (2023 Edition)" (Development and Reform Industry [2023] 723). The energy efficiency level has become a yardstick to measure the fossil energy consumption of cement clinker production lines, and the Guidance Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 edition) takes the energy efficiency level as an important basis for judging the encouraged, restricted and eliminated categories. In the Work Program for Steady Growth of Building Materials Industry and the Work Program for Steady Growth of Building Materials Industry in Hubei Province (2023-2024), eight ministries and commissions proposed to implement differentiated cement peak staggering production based on energy efficiency level. Therefore, the preferential policy for energy efficiency "leader" not only conforms to the national policy, but also promotes cement enterprises to speed up energy-saving transformation.
Green is the background of high-quality development. The national "green factory" is one of the core supporting units of the national green manufacturing system and the leading force to promote the green transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry. The preferential policy of peak staggering for national "green factories" is conducive to guiding enterprises to firmly establish and implement the concept of green development, actively promote the greening of production process, and take the road of green, low-carbon, sustainable and high-quality development.
(III)
< IMG SRC = "https://img7.ccement.com/richtext/img/3qluxuhjasg1704611334302. not only controls the total output of clinker by strictly following the approved production capacity, Promote the balance of regional supply and demand, and guide enterprises to transform to low emission and low energy consumption through differentiated policies, so as to achieve green development. It is hoped that the management and marketing personnel of cement plants in the province will earnestly study and strictly implement the requirements of the Notice, organize production according to the approved capacity in accordance with the law and regulations, increase the use of alternative fuels, strive to improve TSR, and control the comprehensive energy consumption and total energy consumption of clinker. "Explore the way for the industry, dance with the world", and contribute to the 30th anniversary of Huaxin's listing and the 117th anniversary of its establishment.
