On May 15, the 2025 Conference on High Quality Development of Cement Industry was held in Hefei, Anhui Province. Zhou Yuxian, President of China Cement Association, attended the conference and delivered a speech.
Zhou Yuxian said that in retrospect, with the joint efforts of all colleagues, the cement industry has earnestly implemented the national industrial policy, made great progress in technological innovation, structural adjustment, peak staggering production, energy saving and emission reduction, and also experienced a brilliant period of rapid growth in revenue from 100 billion yuan to trillion yuan, which has become a driving force for the national economy. An important force supporting the rapid development of real estate and infrastructure construction.
In recent years, along with the changes in the trend of macroeconomic development and the impact of structural contradictions accumulated over a long period of time in the cement industry, the cement industry is facing severe challenges such as unilateral downward demand, excess capacity, intensified vicious competition and declining efficiency. All of you present here have deep feelings about this.
Zhou Yuxian pointed out that 2024 is an extraordinary year for the cement industry, the situation is tortuous and difficult, and the achievements are hard won.
The cement industry insists on seeking consensus and cohesion, and further promotes the ecological construction of the industry. Cement associations and major enterprises have thoroughly implemented the overall decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee, putting the ecological construction of the industry in a more prominent position. Especially after September last year, the Yangtze River Delta region took the lead in driving the large-scale price recovery in the fourth quarter of the country, the efficiency of the industry has improved significantly, the confidence of the industry has been enhanced, and in the fourth quarter, it has made a turnaround of stable operation and stable expectations.
We will continue to lay the foundation and make long-term benefits, and promote the continuous improvement of industry standards. Relevant departments of the state have issued a series of policy documents to further tighten the requirements of capacity replacement, tap the potential of energy saving and carbon reduction, implement ultra-low emission transformation, and promote the standardization and quality improvement of cement products.
Zhou Yuxian said that the industry's inclusion in the carbon market has entered the countdown, and we believe that under the guidance of the policy of controlling production capacity, promoting energy conservation and improving efficiency, the high-quality development of the industry will achieve more positive results.
Looking forward to the future, as an important basic raw material industry of the national economy, short-term difficulties and challenges can not stop our determination to develop with high quality. We should be more aware that the industry demand has been irreversible from the high-speed growth period to the platform period and then to the downward period. The opportunity for the industry to stabilize and improve depends not only on the comprehensive effect of the supporting strength of real estate and infrastructure investment, but also on the effectiveness of the industry in promoting transformation through innovation and seeking win-win cooperation.
Zhou Yuxian said that cement workers have never been afraid of difficulties and obstacles. The more complex the situation is and the more arduous the task is, the more we should strive to break through difficulties, seek changes and open up new situations. Here are three suggestions to share with you.
The first suggestion is to actively change the way of thinking, both inside and outside, and grasp the present. Drucker, a master of management, has a famous saying that the greatest danger in turbulent times is not turbulence itself, but sticking to the inherent consensus of the past. Faced with the current rapidly changing external environment, it is very important to break the old cognitive limitations and open up new horizons of thinking.
Combining with the development of the times and the changes of the situation, Zhou Yuxian believes that the industry should focus on strengthening three kinds of thinking.
First, systematic thinking , long-term capacity level, large enterprise groups should continue to highlight the pattern and responsibility, give full play to the exemplary leading role, and establish and improve the joint working mechanism around curbing new growth, eliminating backwardness and market integration. In the near future, we should unswervingly deepen industry self-discipline, resolutely implement the policy of normal peak staggering production, and accelerate the formation of a dynamic balance mechanism in which demand determines supply and adapts to demand.
Second, innovative thinking , there is no sunset industry, only sunset thinking, we should not only adhere to the wrong peak production, but also dare to make reasonable innovations to the inherent practices, abandon the inertial thinking driven by large-scale demand, deeply grasp the new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution, and strive to achieve the goal. Actively embrace the new situation, new technologies, new formats and new models.
Third, ecological thinking , we should uphold the values of adults to achieve their own, deeply practice the concept that industry interests are higher than enterprise interests, enterprise interests are pregnant with industry interests, consolidate and deepen the multi-level integrated communication mechanism, when it comes to the decision-making of the overall interests of the industry, especially when it comes to the formulation of peak staggering production plans. More inclusive understanding of each other, to enhance the overall efficiency of the industry as the fundamental starting point, to promote the rational return of industry value.
The second suggestion is to actively change the mode of operation and seek long-term transformation and upgrading. Although there are objective factors of macroeconomic downturn, it also shows that there is a lack of flexibility to effectively respond to the economic cycle, profits follow the market, and problems are prominent. Excess and downward trend are not terrible, but the rigid thinking of not turning and not changing is terrible. We should speed up the transformation and upgrading with a strong sense of responsibility and crisis, and promote the value chain of the industrial chain to the middle and high end.
Firstly, we should focus on the three major transformations , expand the profit space through "cement +", expand the demand space through accelerating internationalization, expand the sustainable development space through double carbon, enhance the ability of cross-cycle operation, and constantly open the second curve of sustainable growth, which is also the key to realize the evergreen foundation of the industry. The second is to speed up the upgrading of the three modernizations. After the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, they can also have the core characteristics of emerging industries, such as high added value and innovation drive. We should speed up the upgrading of high-end, intelligent and green industries, and let the old tree of cement industry sprout through technological research, equipment transformation, product and service upgrading.
The third suggestion is to actively change the development path and achieve win-win cooperation. To achieve high-quality development of the industry in the future, we must rely on the promotion of enterprises, the leadership of large enterprises, and the strength of the whole industry. Only with the concerted efforts of all parties can we push the industry through difficulties.
First, deepen technical cooperation , focus on scientific and technological innovation and the application of new technologies, especially high-end technologies such as special cement and high-performance concrete, intelligent technologies such as AR models and unmanned mines, low-carbon raw materials, carbon popularization, photovoltaic energy storage and other green technologies. The second is to deepen market cooperation , strengthen equity cooperation, through the cross-shareholding of large enterprises in key areas, or the establishment of a platform to acquire production capacity, to achieve the goal of "you have me, you have me", to seek the greatest common denominator, to do more to limit new production capacity, and to improve industry concentration. Thirdly, we should deepen the double-carbon cooperation , actively explore and solve the problems existing in the industry from the fundamental level of carbon emissions and carbon trading, actively implement the carbon field, promote the industry to be integrated into the carbon market as soon as possible, accelerate the green development of the industry in a market-oriented way, twist the main line of green low-carbon transformation and withdrawal of excess capacity, and promote it. Deepen the supply-side structural reform of the industry.
Zhou Yuxian finally pointed out that we are glad to see that, driven by many factors, such as the sustained development of macro-policy combination and the continuous strengthening of industry strength, the industry profits in the first quarter of this year turned into profits year on year, the average price rebounded significantly year on year, and the market demand environment in the second quarter is expected to continue to improve year on year. It also lays a good foundation for making the fourth quarter of 2024 into the four quarters of 2025. Let's strengthen our confidence, work together for mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual benefit, create, share and win-win situation, and strive to write a new chapter of high-quality development of the industry.
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