Foshan is a typical manufacturing city. Among the various manufacturing systems, Foshan Ceramics is unique and has become a beautiful business card of Foshan.
At its peak, Foshan ceramics accounted for almost one-fifth of the country's total output. Since Foshan's ceramic industry launched the "vacate the cage and replace the bird" industry rectification and upgrading in 2007, the scale of Foshan's ceramic industry has continued to shrink, from more than 400 ceramic factories in 2007 to 39 in 2021, both in terms of the number of companies and the scale of production capacity. , are all declining. If this trend continues, how long can Foshan Ceramics maintain its advantages?
It is undeniable that Foshan still has the largest architectural ceramics industry cluster in the world so far, with many leading companies, strong innovation capabilities and a full range of categories. Almost all new processes, technologies and products in the industry originate from Foshan. However, we must also clearly see that other production areas outside Foshan, especially some new production areas in the mainland, are rapidly rising, such as Gao'an in Jiangxi and Tengxian in Guangxi. Amidst this ebb and flow, the production capacity of Foshan's ceramic industry is shrinking step by step.
This shrinkage is not the result of market competition, but the result of local industrial policy regulation. Since Foshan's ceramic industry "vacated the cage and replaced the bird" in 2007, Foshan has not allowed the construction or expansion of ceramic tile production lines. This ban was later expanded to the entire province, and architectural ceramics has become one of the industries restricted by government departments, including the surrounding Zhaoqing In production areas such as , Jiangmen, and Qingyuan, the ceramic industry has also been significantly reduced in scale during renovation and improvement.
In the Foshan production area, companies are not even allowed to dismantle old products, replace them with new ones, or expand production capacity through technological transformation. You must know that the technology of the ceramic industry is updated very quickly, especially the most critical production equipment - the kiln. It needs to be repaired almost every year and updated in a few years. If it is not updated, there will not be much competitive advantage. However, such policies have restricted the development of local enterprises in Foshan to a certain extent. Kilns cannot be dismantled and rebuilt, and production capacity cannot be expanded in the name of technological transformation. Various restrictions have caused Foshan ceramic enterprises to lose their production advantages step by step.
Foshan is restricting the development of the ceramic industry, but many provinces in the mainland are vigorously attracting investment. As a result, the capital, technology, and talents of Foshan's ceramic industry have been lost to other production areas. The production capacity of Foshan ceramic enterprises is insufficient, so they have to build factories in other places or go to other production areas for OEM. If you go to the terminal market, you will find that almost half of the ceramic tile products are sold in the name of "Foshan Ceramics", but how many percent are truly "Made in Foshan"? This cannot but be said to be the tragedy of Foshan Ceramics.
Judging from the resource endowments and investment environment of major production areas across the country, Foshan has unique comparative advantages in developing the architectural ceramics industry.potential. It has the most complete industrial chain, the most mature industrial clusters, high-quality raw materials, convenient transportation, a huge business, scientific research and innovation platform, as well as funds, technology, talents, information, etc. However, even such advantageous industries have gradually become "backward industries" that are not favored by local governments due to various factors such as land and environmental protection.
Objectively speaking, the ceramic industry occupies a very large amount of land resources. If core areas such as Chancheng, Nanhai and Shunde have no land resources, what about Sanshui and Gaoming? Can the government plan a ceramic industrial park in Sanshui and Gaoming to support the development of the ceramic industry? If the ceramic industry has brought pollution to the urban environment, it is because ceramic factories did not pay attention to environmental protection in the past. In recent years, a number of leading enterprises in Foshan have achieved green manufacturing through strict environmental protection regulations. Ceramic factories are no longer synonymous with high pollution.
It would be biased to say that the ceramic industry is a traditional manufacturing industry and does not have broader development prospects like emerging industries. Human development, including clothing, food, shelter and transportation, is its eternal theme. As a decorative material that beautifies buildings and living spaces, architectural ceramics have huge advantages and irreplaceability compared with other materials. In fact, many emerging industries are updated faster. After the limelight has passed, they may enter a period of decline. But the architectural ceramics industry will not. It will always be a sunrise industry. As long as the house still exists and as long as people want to pursue a better working and living space, there will be a huge market demand for architectural ceramics.
Some people may say that the ceramic industry, as a subdivided industry in the upstream of the real estate industry, is unsustainable with the transformation and regulation of real estate. However, even if the real estate market is regulated and the golden period of the property market is no longer there, the demand for building ceramic products is still huge. You must know that in the stock market of the real estate industry in the past few decades, almost every space has hidden potential demand for secondary decoration. However, this demand has not yet been fully released.
Some people also refer to the policies of developed countries such as Europe and the United States on the construction ceramics industry, and propose that economically developed regions such as Foshan and Guangdong should not vigorously develop the construction ceramics industry. However, China's national conditions are different from those of developed countries in Europe and the United States. China has a population of 1.4 billion and faces a huge international market. As a traditional industry with advantages cultivated over decades and generations, what we have to do is to further develop it and make Foshan ceramics recognized by more people. Rather than simply and crudely restricting its development.
Manufacturing is the main body of the national economy, the foundation of a country, a tool for rejuvenating a country, and the foundation of a strong country. Even the powerful United States is trying every means to develop its traditional manufacturing industry. Foshan Ceramics has such a large industry leading advantage. There is no reason to undermine its military power and make various industrial scale changes.limit.
Without the support of a certain scale, it may not be long before the other advantages of Foshan Ceramics will no longer exist.
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Author｜Wang Li
Mona Lisa Group Cultural Director
(This article is reproduced from Ceramic Information)
