Chen Xinwei, President Of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association: Accelerate The Formation Of New Quality Productivity With Scientific And Technological Innovation

Recently, the reporter interviewed Chen Xinwei, President of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, to summarize and review the achievements of the industry in 2023, and put forward suggestions on the challenges that the industry needs to face and overcome in 2024.

The industry is running smoothly with a positive trend

In 2023, facing the extremely complex and challenging internal and external environment, China's chemical fiber industry has always maintained strategic concentration, carefully prepared for the war, and kept improving its operation. It has made steady progress in breaking through the crisis, showing its accumulated tenacity.

In general, the chemical fiber industry will show a positive trend in 2023. First, the industry's production and sales are basically stable, and the market is relatively stable. The overall starting load of the industry is basically maintained at a high level, and the inventory status remains good. In addition, the fluctuation range and frequency of chemical fiber price in 2023 will be significantly reduced compared with the previous two years, which will greatly reduce the difficulty for enterprises to purchase raw materials and control inventory. Second, chemical fiber exports performed well, and the export volume continued to grow. From January to November, the total export volume of main chemical fiber products increased by 17.5% year on year, and the growth rate increased by 8.06 percentage points year on year. On the one hand, it reflects the growth of demand for China's chemical fiber products in the international market, and on the other hand, it also reflects the significant improvement of the international competitiveness of China's chemical fiber products. Third, on a month on month basis, the industry has shown a gradual recovery. From January to November, the output of chemical fiber increased 9.99% year on year, from a negative growth at the beginning of the year to a positive growth in April, and then continued to increase. The year-on-year decline of the operating revenue and total profit of the chemical fiber industry continued to narrow and become positive, of which the operating revenue was 3.98% from January to October, from -4.98% in January to February, and the total profit was 2.24% from January to October, from -97.16% in January to October. Fourth, the industry of high-performance fibers and bio based fibers has continued to develop steadily, and the production of major products of high-performance fibers has grown steadily, with profits still remaining overall; The utilization rate of Lyocell fiber production capacity increased, and the production and sales volume increased rapidly.

Chen Xinwei introduced that the achievement of the industry cannot be achieved without the efforts of a large number of outstanding enterprises in the industry. They face the difficulties squarely, do not complain, do not lie flat, do not give up, seek development in the difficulties, turn pressure into power, constantly strengthen internal management, improve quality and efficiency, better allocate resources, organize production, develop products, open up the market through in-depth research on the development direction of the industry and market, and wholeheartedly do their own things well, thus promoting the development of the industry and society.

Fruitful,

Science and technology, green, brand led industry development

Driven by the country, industry associations, scientific research institutes and excellent enterprises, the chemical fiber industry will show new characteristics of high-quality development in scientific and technological innovation, green development and brand building in 2023.

　　 In terms of scientific and technological innovation, China's chemical fiber industry has formed barriers to entry through refining and chemical integration and volume advantages. Functional and differentiated fiber products continue to update and iterate. Environmentally friendly and bio fiber materials are expected to replace more fiber products from petroleum resources. Intelligent production has become a model. High performance fibers have accelerated to mature, and industry bottlenecks have rapidly decreased, Start to gradually lead the new development of chemical fiber industry.

In 2023, a number of scientific and technological achievements won the Science and Technology Award and Patent Award of China Textile Industry Federation. Two projects, "Technology and Equipment for Industrialization of 1000 ton Seaweed Fiber for Textile", "Key Technology and Application for Industrialization of Flexible/Elastic Ceramic Microfiber Materials", won the first prize of Technology Invention Award, and "Research and Development of Key Technology for Separation and High value Utilization of Waste Polyester/Cotton Blended Fabrics" won the second prize of Technology Invention Award. Three technologies such as "waste polyester textile glycol alcoholysis methanol transesterification intermittent regeneration DMT and key industrialization technology of titanium catalyst synthesis PET" were awarded the first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award, and six technologies such as "key technology and application of PE/PP ultra short fiber preparation" were awarded the second prize of Science and Technology Progress Award.

The industry has also emerged a number of internationally advanced technology. The crystallization purification of NMMO technology developed by Huamao Weiye and Baoding Swan has reached the international leading level, realized the localization of Lyocell's key solvents, and basically solved the problem of high dependence of China's NMMO on foreign countries. Jiangsu Hengshen, Ningbo Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Harbin Institute of Technology have built a ten ton ultra-high strength and high modulus HF55M carbon fiber engineering production line, with carbon fiber tensile strength ≥ 5800 MPa, carbon fiber tensile modulus ≥ 377 GPa, and elongation at break ≥ 1.50%, reaching the international advanced level. Zhejiang Hengyi Petrochemical Research Institute and other units have developed the key technology and industrialization technology for the preparation of antifouling nylon 6, reaching the international advanced level of similar products. The engineering production technology of 10000 ton high-purity regenerated DMT developed by Zhejiang Jiaren New Materials and other units has reached the international leading level.

The intelligent development of the industry has reached a new level. The functional polyester fiber intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory of Tongkun Group has become the 2023 intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory jointly evaluated by the five national departments. Shenghong Petrochemical and Honeywell released the practical experience of smart factories to provide reference for the industry.

　　 In terms of green development, The green design and manufacturing capacity of the chemical fiber industry has been significantly improved. Some excellent enterprises were awarded the National Green Design Demonstration Enterprise and Provincial Green Factory, 13 enterprises were awarded the National Green Factory, and 3 enterprises were awarded the Green Supply Chain Management Enterprise. The supply capacity of green products has been improved, and green products such as fungus regenerated cellulose fiber, antimony free polyester polyester, seaweed fiber, polylactic acid have been industrialized, and chemical regenerated polyester products have been continuously enriched.

In particular, the launch of Ruibang · China Fiber Zero Carbon Action 2023, a credible platform for green fiber products, has aroused strong attention in the industry. The platform adopts national secondary node analysis technology, blockchain technology, supply chain traceability system and other informatization means, which can realize the digital transformation, upgrading and online transaction of the whole industrial chain from fiber to terminal products, and trace the whole process information... With the support of science and technology and information technology, China's chemical fiber industry is gaining greater voice.

In addition, the Green Development Alliance for Regenerated Cellulose Fibers (CV Alliance) and its member enterprises Sadeli, Sanyou Chemical Fiber, Siliya, Jilin Chemical Fiber, Xinxiang Chemical Fiber, etc. issued the Sustainable Development Report, actively practicing the "dual carbon" strategy, and the green fiber certification products are constantly enriched.

　　 In terms of brand building, Tongkun · China Fiber Fashion Trend Activity continued to lead the collaborative innovation of the chemical fiber ecosystem, and released nine categories of popular fibers at the Tongkun · China Fiber Fashion Trend 2023/2024 press conference. The series of activities of "Huafeng Millennium · China Fiber Brand Linkage Creation and Sharing" inject new vitality into the industry brand construction. As an important extension activity of "China's fiber fashion trend", the fiber road activity continued to enter many downstream enterprises, sharing the fiber varieties released by Tongkun · China's fiber fashion trend 2023/2024, understanding the pain points and difficulties of terminal brands in product research and development, and exploring the feasible path of collaborative innovation, It has laid a foundation for giving play to the value-added role of innovative fibers in end products.

Hengli Group, Rongsheng Group, Shenghong Group, Hengyi Group, Xinjiang Zhongtai and other chemical fiber related enterprises are listed in the Fortune Global 500 in 2023; Chen Jianhua, Chairman and President of Hengli Group, Fan Hongwei, Vice Chairman of Hengli Group and Chairman of Hengli Petrochemical, Miao Hangen, Chairman of Shenghong Group and other chemical fiber entrepreneurs were listed in Fortune's 50 most influential business leaders in 2023; Miao Hangen, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shenghong Holding Group, Shao Changjin, Chairman of Xinxiang Chemical Fiber Co., Ltd., Song Xiquan, Chairman of Taihe Xincai, and others were elected as deputies to the National People's Congress... The influence of chemical fiber enterprises and entrepreneurs was further strengthened. Many chemical fiber enterprises pay more and more attention to the cultivation of product brands and enterprise brands, and the industry brand construction has achieved remarkable results.

Around the seven major actions,

Promote the construction of modern chemical fiber industry system

In the great journey of promoting Chinese style modernization, China's textile industry shoulders a vital historical mission. To this end, the China Textile Industry Federation officially released the Action Plan for Building a Modern Textile Industry System (2022-2035). The chemical fiber industry is the core support for the stable development and continuous innovation of the textile industry chain, an industry with international competitive advantages, an important part of the new material industry, and plays an important role in the construction of a modern industrial system. Chen Xinwei proposed that in the next step, the China Chemical Fiber Association will work together with other relevant departments to promote the construction of a modern industrial system and high-quality development of the chemical fiber industry, so that the industry can truly form a more innovative, value-added and sustainable industrial chain supply chain, improve the competitiveness of the textile industry and meet the demand for consumption upgrading, We will better serve the development of strategic emerging industries and promote the chemical fiber industry to build a modern industrial system.

Centering on the seven key actions proposed in the Action Plan, Chen Xinwei said that the chemical fiber industry will promote the textile scientific and technological innovation of industry progress by establishing a systematic and efficient scientific and technological research and development system, improving the multi-level collaborative innovation platform system, and establishing a new high-quality standard support system; By strengthening the research and release of Chinese fiber fashion trends and the design and application of new materials and new technologies in terminal products, grasp the effective demand and optimize the supply structure, promote brand building based on chemical fiber characteristics and other actions to highlight the upgrading of textile fashion led by culture; Practice green textile manufacturing and fulfill social responsibilities by optimizing the energy consumption structure, steadily promoting energy-saving and low-carbon transformation, improving the key technology level of intelligent manufacturing, and improving the modern green manufacturing mode of chemical fiber; By encouraging leading enterprises to build chemical fiber textile whole industrial chain integration bases in the central and western regions, and guiding chemical fiber enterprises to participate in the construction of transnational industrial chain supply chain, we will establish coordinated and interconnected textile regional financial development; Promote the upgrading of the dual cycle international supply chain by consolidating and improving the position of global industrial division and cooperation, steadily improving the level of international development, actively participating in global industrial governance, cultivating international development pilot enterprises, etc; Promote the deep integration and development of the digital economy and the textile industry by promoting the digital transformation of enterprises and carrying out the construction of industrial Internet platforms; The construction of textile human resources to support modern development is supported by training compound talents and building a chemical fiber talent think tank.

Focus on the track,

Accelerate the formation of new chemical fiber productivity

The Platform for Action provides specific guidelines for the textile and chemical fiber industry to build a modern industrial system, but what problems should chemical fiber enterprises pay attention to in the face of the current new development environment? What is the focus of high-quality development in the next step?

In this regard, Chen Xinwei pointed out that the development of China's chemical fiber industry faces some problems and weaknesses. First, high-quality development is not sufficient, and the diversification of raw material guarantee and the safety and stability of the industrial chain still need to be improved; Second, some raw and auxiliary materials, additives and key equipment constraints still need to be broken through. For example, the import dependence of recycled cellulose fiber raw materials is high, and some key technologies of bio based fiber raw materials need to be broken through and improved; Third, there is still a gap in the development of high-performance fibers, bio based chemical fibers and degradable materials; Fourth, the green development and recycling system needs to be improved.

In this regard, Chen Xinwei suggested that the chemical fiber industry should pay attention to the following aspects in its next development:

First, we should strengthen the confidence and confidence in sustainable development, and also face the problems facing the industry development and guide rational investment.

The second is to strengthen self-discipline in the industry. It is suggested that enterprises should strengthen communication and cooperation in the industry to avoid price fluctuations and ineffective vicious competition.

Third, promote the development of high-end, intelligent, green and brand industries, such as increasing the added value of conventional fibers, improving the production and application level of high-performance fibers, and accelerating the development of bio based chemical fibers and biodegradable fiber materials; Accelerate intelligent digital transformation; Realize green and low-carbon transformation of development mode; Increase the supply of high-quality products, cultivate famous fiber brands, and lead the textile value improvement from the raw material side.

Fourth, expand the international market and plan the industrial layout. Internationally, we should seize the opportunity to actively explore the chemical fiber export market. It is suggested that more research should be done on investment and trade cooperation with Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions. At the same time, we need to constantly expand our international vision and accelerate the improvement of global service capabilities. From the domestic perspective, we should pay attention to the trend of transfer to the central and western regions and northeast regions, and the trend of developing and manufacturing high-end chemical fiber products in the eastern coastal areas.

As for 2024, Chen Xinwei said that the industry will still face a severe and complex situation. He suggested that the industry and entrepreneurs should seize all the favorable opportunities, take advantage of all the favorable conditions, focus on their own track, promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, promote the birth of new industries, new models, new drivers, accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, build their own "moat", and jointly welcome the arrival of a world chemical fiber power.

(Source: Textile and Clothing Weekly)