Going to market, salt companies accelerate the transition to chemical industry

With the deepening of the reform of the salt industry circulation system, the salt franchise system will be terminated. The salt companies and salt companies that specialize in salt and small industrial salt will go all the way to the market. It is inevitable that the salt industry enterprises will accelerate the adjustment of product structure. During the investigation, the reporter found that many salt companies have begun to use resource advantages to extend downstream products, and some have already operated chemical products.

Although the market share of salt franchise is limited, but the profit is high. Since the formation of the salt franchise system in 1996, the ex-factory price of salt in China has remained basically unchanged, at three or four hundred yuan per ton. The salt industry company sold more than 2,000 yuan per ton to retailers, resulting in more than four times the profit. According to a survey conducted by the reporter, Shandong, a province with large salt production, produces about 1 million tons of salt a year, which accounts for about 5% of the total salt production. The per capita annual sales volume is only 90 tons, and the per capita profit and tax is 13,000 yuan. Sichuan Province sells 800,000 tons of salt annually, and the provincial salt company has a profit of over 100 million yuan a year. The annual sales of salt in Hubei is about 360,000 tons, and the salt for small industries is 50,000-60,000 tons. The annual sales revenue of the provincial salt company is up to 1 billion yuan. “With the cancellation of the franchise policy, if salt companies cannot accelerate the pace of structural adjustment, they will gradually lose their advantages. Many salt companies and salt wholesale companies will be eliminated in the market.” CEO of a salt company told reporters .

At present, some salt companies are in the process of adopting deep-level transitions such as the use of chlorine, alkalis, bromine, and potassium to extend their reach into chemical production. Shandong Zhenghai Technology Co., Ltd. has just invested 2.8 billion yuan to build 200,000 tons/year special resin, 180,000 tons/year epichlorohydrin, and 80,000 tons/year trichloroethylene project. After all the projects have been completed and put into production, the annual sales income will be 5.8 billion yuan and the profits and taxes will be 980 million yuan. They are currently constructing a 200,000-ton/year special resin project and have introduced advanced technology and equipment from Japan to recycle wastes from production waste. Sichuan Salt Industry Co., Ltd. participates in a 20% joint venture with Sichuan Chemical Industry Group to jointly develop a 95 million-ton Mabin phosphate resource and downstream phosphorus chemical products. Chongqing Salt Industry Co., Ltd. built a million-ton liquid salt factory in Changshou District to supply liquid salt to salt chemical companies. It also invested in the acquisition of a 30% stake in Chongqing Sanyang Chemical.

With the year-on-year increase in salt production profits, Jiangsu Salt Industry Group promoted the optimization and upgrading of the salt chemical industry. The Group is accelerating the construction of three salt chemical industrial clusters in South Jiangsu's economically-developed area, northern Jiangsu coastal chemical area and Huai'an salt resource area. . At the end of June this year, the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Feng County People's Government and invested RMB 3 billion in Fengxian County to focus on creating vacuum salt, soda ash, cogeneration and **potassium projects.

In addition to producing chemical products, some salt companies also use their salt franchise network to operate chemical products. Zhejiang Yanye Group Company acted as the soda ash and polyvinyl chloride of CNOOC Shandong Haihua Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Zhongyan Jilantai Salt Chemical Group Co., Ltd. and other companies. The company's chairman Chen Cunfa of Zhejiang Salt Industry Group explained to reporters that salt and salt chemicals are linked together. They have been operating raw salt for many years. They understand the chemical companies that use salt. We have the advantages of network and warehousing logistics and can fully explore the operation of salt chemical industry. product.

Most of salt franchised network terminals are located in rural areas. Chongqing Salt Industry Group Co., Ltd. uses a unified image, unified distribution, uniform clothing, and a unified display of salt chain stores to represent two brands of urea products. At present, all kinds of fertilizers represented by urea have become one of the six major operating products of Chongqing Salt Industry.

In addition, Zhejiang Salt Group Corporation also operated the urea and compound fertilizer of Anhui Hong Sifang Co., Ltd. According to industry analysts, many provincial salt companies have established network terminals as chain stores, and the salt franchise network is expected to become one of China's agricultural resource management networks.

Industry insiders suggested that salinized products can be targeted for non-salt management. Since salinized products are closely related to salt, they can bring the advantages of the company’s original personnel, technology, and management experience to the new chemical industry. At the same time, it can also make full use of the company's existing sales channels, logistics systems, etc. to achieve the company's core competitiveness.