On June 28-29, the "2025 Summit Forum of Chinese Enterprises Going to Sea" was held in Shenzhen. Hu Jie, a professor of practice at Shanghai Advanced Finance College of Shanghai Jiaotong University, attended the forum and delivered a speech on the theme of "Soft Power, the Hard Truth of High Quality Going to Sea".
When talking about sustainable development, Hu Jie said that Chinese enterprises should avoid industry risks, such as vicious competition. Hu Jie mentioned that he often asked entrepreneurs, "Are you afraid of this competitor when you go to sea?"? He said I'm not afraid, but I'm afraid the second Chinese will come.
Hu Jie observed that the "killer" of Chinese enterprises is the second Chinese. Many Chinese enterprises, whether at home or abroad, are killed in the end. Although they have a large production capacity, they have no profit. To solve this problem, enterprises need self-discipline, coordination and balance, so all entrepreneurs need to work together.
In recent years, domestic cement demand has continued to decline, overcapacity has become increasingly serious, and major cement enterprises have turned their attention to overseas.
On June 25, Western Cement announced that it would sell cement and related assets in Xinjiang to Conch Cement at a total price of 1.65 billion yuan. West Cement stated that the net proceeds from the disposal are more appropriately used to repay part of the senior notes issued by the company (with an interest rate of 4.95%) and release operating cash flow to support the group's expansion projects, especially in Africa.
The announcement said that the effectiveness of Western Cement's focus on overseas markets has been reflected in recent financial results. In 2024, the sales volume of cement and clinker in Africa and Uzbekistan was about 4.03 million tons, accounting for only about 20% of the total sales volume of cement in the west, but the revenue from overseas markets accounted for 38% of the total revenue of the Group and contributed 67% of the gross profit margin.
Western Cement also cited in the announcement that the gross profit per ton of cement in Africa and Uzbekistan far exceeded that in China, reaching 323 yuan and 64 yuan respectively, compared with 42 yuan for domestic cement. The Board remains highly optimistic about the growth potential of Western Cement in overseas development areas.
In addition to Western Cement, domestic cement giants, including Conch Cement, Huaxin Cement , Taiwan Cement, Red Lion Group, Gezhouba and China Building Materials, have increased their overseas business in recent years. According to the big data of China Cement Network, by 2024, the overseas clinker production capacity of Chinese cement enterprises has reached about 79.8 million tons, and the production capacity under construction is about 14.2 million tons, and a number of mergers and acquisitions projects are in progress.
However, from the perspective of overseas distribution, except for the acquisition of Turkish cement enterprises by Taiwan Cement, the market is mainly located in Europe, while the overseas production capacity of other domestic cement enterprises is mainly located in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Africa, and the distribution is relatively concentrated.
Domestic cement enterprises going out is inevitable for the development of enterprises and industries, but as Hu Jie said, the "killer" of Chinese enterprises is the second Chinese. When domestic cement enterprises go out, they should go out with advanced technology and advanced concepts, do a good job of self-discipline, coordination and balance, and avoid "rolling up domestic and foreign".
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