China's Instrumentation Industry Enters a New Stage of Development

The instrumentation industry has shown rapid development in recent years. A statistical data from the China Instrument and Meter Association indicated that the production and sales of China's instrumentation industry continued to rise after rising at a high rate of two years. In the first half of 2007, the total output value of China's instrumentation industry was 133.5 billion yuan, an increase of 29.1% year-on-year; the sales revenue of products was 1289. Billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%, all at historically high levels; profits increased by more than 40% year-on-year, total assets increased by about 18% year-on-year, and the industry as a whole is in a healthy development phase.

To this end, this reporter made a special trip to interview the China Instrument Industry Association, a special advisor Yan Jiacheng, asked him to talk about the development of China's instrumentation industry. Yan Jiacheng told the reporter, “Now people are concerned about the instrumentation industry, the national policy support is increasing, more companies are willing to invest in the development of instrumentation, and more local governments have set up instrumentation industry development zones. China's instrumentation industry It is entering a new period of development."

In the first half of the year, the demand structure of the four major specialty products has changed significantly. There are many products in the field of instrumentation, industrial automation instrumentation and control systems are still higher than the growth rate of the whole industry, and the growth in production and sales is 34%, reflecting that China is still in the period of high-speed development of energy and heavy chemical industry, but the increase rate is 38% higher than the previous year. The decline shows that structural adjustments in thermal power, metallurgy and other applications have had an impact. Environmental monitoring instruments increased by 40% year-on-year, reflecting the demand for related instruments for environmental governance, energy saving and emission reduction. Optical instruments, supply instruments, testing machines, geological exploration and special instruments for earthquakes, teaching instruments and other products maintained an average increase in the industry. Electrical instrumentation, surveying and mapping instruments, test and analysis instruments, automotive instrumentation, navigation, meteorological marine instruments, nuclear measurement instruments, electronic measuring instruments, timing instruments, weighing instruments, medical instruments, etc., are lower than the industry average, and the demand for some products is stable. The production capacity is too large; some products have large technological gaps, and the middle-to-high end product market is occupied by imported products, and the problem of structural adjustment is obvious.

The location changed quietly. Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and other major cities were once the birthplace and concentration area of ​​China's instrumentation industry. They have good conditions and are among the best in the long term. With the changes in regional industrial structure, although the foundation is good but the growth is not fast, in the first half of this year, it was about 10%. The scale of production and sales in Beijing and Shanghai has already relegated to the fifth and sixth place in the country. The Soviet Union, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shandong are among the top, and the output value has surpassed Beijing and Shanghai. Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces have gathered foreign capital. The instrumentation industry accounts for a relatively large proportion, and has leapt to the first and second place in the instrumentation industry in China. In recent years, private enterprises in Zhejiang have developed rapidly and have formed regional industrial clusters. The large quantity of products with a wide range of products forms large-scale production, and it also has a model of industrialization of high-tech achievements, ranking third in the country.

Exports grew faster and import growth was smaller. In the first half of the year, China's instrumentation industry increased exports by 36.4%. Industrial automation instrumentation systems, electronic measuring instruments, testing machines, laboratory analysis instruments, medical instruments, and other export growth rates were all above 40%. Industrial automation instruments and electronic measurements that had not been exported in the past were large. The increase in instrumentation was as high as 76.9% and 104.5%, respectively, and some products such as pressure/differential pressure transmitters, semiconductor component testing and communication instruments, precision balances, spectrophotometers, and X-ray inspection instruments have multiplied. In traditional export products, electricity meters, gas meters, optical components, telescopes, microscopes, thermometers, etc. did not increase significantly except for the 65.5% increase in water meters. The increase in imports has dropped to 7.2%. Optical instruments, most electrical instrumentation, and medical instruments have turned negative.

There has been progress in independent innovation and breakthroughs have been made in major engineering applications. Digital oscilloscope, spectral absorption type contaminated gas optical fiber detection system, on-site detection device for pesticide residues, on-site verification device for voltage and current transformers, 10000kg electric vibration test system, automatic shaft alignment (integration of measurement and processing equipment), and three-phase multifunction Standard electric energy meter, environment-friendly multi-channel atomic fluorescence spectrometer, virtual microscope system, X-ray real-time imaging detection system, and full-drilling instrument, and the first batch of scientific research and new product projects of the process analysis complete system have been successfully developed and have entered the stage of industrialization.

What is particularly encouraging is that the decentralized control system, as an important product of the instrumentation industry, continues to make breakthroughs in key national projects. In January 2007, the decentralized control system developed by Beijing Guodian Zhiyuan Co., Ltd. was successfully put into operation at the 600MW subcritical unit of Longshan Power Plant, Hebei Province, and it entered commercial operation; in August 2007, it was also a 600MW supercritical unit in Liaoning Zhuanghe Power Plant. Put into operation successfully. Zhejiang Zhonghua’s decentralized control system with independent intellectual property rights successfully bid for the 300,000 T synthetic ammonia/520000 T urea project at Lunan Fertilizer Plant; in April 2007, it also signed four Sinopec Wuhan refining projects with 5 million T/year. The main device provides the control system. The above breakthrough will effectively break the monopoly of foreign companies in the national key projects for important instrumentation, control devices and automation systems.

In the second half of the year, the growth rate will slowly decline. In the second half of the year, the instrumentation industry will continue to trend for the first half of the year. Demand, production and sales are still at high levels, but the increase will slow down. It is expected that the growth rate of production and sales will be slightly higher than the previous year or basically the same. Due to the relatively indirect and lagging response of the instrumentation industry to the macroeconomics, some product growth will fall back to next year. In the second half of the year, there will be the following characteristics:

Industrial automation instrumentation and control devices and environmental monitoring and analysis instruments have the fastest growth, and other instruments and instruments will not change their stable growth trend. In the country's implementation of circular economy, environmental protection, emission reduction, high-efficiency, energy saving, "large pressure small" and other policies and measures, thermal power, metallurgy, building materials and other medium-sized devices and "five small businesses" and other demand for instruments will be significantly reduced. The large-scale, complex and new application areas of industrial devices and the demand for their devices will cause domestic companies to face many problems such as product technology level, application adaptability, and entry barriers. Foreign companies have comparative advantages and will have an impact on the market landscape. .

There are two different situations in which corporate profits are changing. On the one hand, due to the increase in proficiency in production and the increase in the technological content of products, some companies increase their labor productivity and increase their profit margins. On the other hand, due to rising raw material prices, labor costs, and utility costs. , exchange rate changes and other reasons, a lot of product costs rise, the production capacity of middle and low-end products in domestic companies, middle-to-high-end products in foreign-funded enterprises and foreign and domestic companies in the increasingly fierce price competition, some companies have profit There are signs of decline.

"The rapid growth of exports and the small increase in imports will not change in the second half of the year." From the high growth of exports that has lasted for many years, the basis is the improvement of the technological level and the acceleration of industrial development. Another important factor this year is the company's response to the macroeconomic situation. Both foreign-funded enterprises and competitive enterprises in China are using existing facilities to increase their export intensity in order to cope with the possible slowdown in the domestic economy. In the first half of the year, the value of export delivery accounted for 28.6% of the total industrial output value, which was a year-on-year increase of 41.3%. In fact, the industry-wide growth rate of the industry was higher than that of the same period last year mainly due to export growth. The growth rate in the domestic market was basically the same. In exports, the increase in commissioned foreign capital production is evident. Due to the wide disparity between the bases of import and export, the import and export deficit will still be as high as US$8 billion, but this year may be the first year since China’s reform and opening up to reduce the deficit in import and export of instrumentation.

Speaking of breakthroughs in major projects in China's instrumentation industry, Yan Jiacheng vividly described it as "in the midst of difficulties," and the promotion and improvement of instrumentation has been on the agenda. The application of important instrumentation and control systems in major projects will be from point to point. Products that break through will be expanded from single DCS types to other important products, from single products to wider areas and more complex devices, and breakthrough products have been promoted. Further improvement of its level will be the focus of work in the second half of the year.

Fortunately, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other competent authorities have continuously strengthened the support for high-tech and industrialization of instrumentation, control systems, and intelligentization according to the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" and the State Council No. 8 document. The National Development and Reform Commission The focus of support in this area is clear, and approval for project approval has been accelerated. Large-scale thermal power plants such as DCS, large-scale petrochemical DCS, nuclear power meters, and high-precision pressure/differential pressure transmitters have been approved or submitted for approval. Several R&D projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology, including intelligent instrumentation, control systems, India A, wireless communications, and scientific instruments, have been established, and some have been implemented. The units that have significant influence, such as Guodian Group, Sinopec, PetroChina, and Yanzhou Mining Group, are actively taking measures to promote the application of domestic instrumentation and control systems in major projects, and study to increase input to support their R&D and industrialization. Chongqing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Ningxia, Hunan and other provinces and cities are all combining the development of the region, researching and adopting measures to support the development of the instrumentation industry.