The Development Status and Future Trends of China's Valve Industry

    China is the world's largest valve manufacturing country, with the largest number of valve enterprises in the world. However, the development of China's pump and valve industry is facing enormous pressure, with low production concentration, low research and development capabilities for valves matched with high-end products, and low manufacturing technology level in the valve industry still widely existing.

    In recent years, China's industrial development has been rapid, and the demand for pump and valve products has been increasing. The pump and valve industry has also begun to prosper. According to statistics, China is the world's largest valve manufacturing country, with the largest number of valve enterprises in the world. There are about 6000 valve enterprises of various sizes, of which 900 have an annual output value exceeding 5 million yuan. There are no less than 200000 pump and valve processing and manufacturing enterprises nationwide, with over 1 million people engaged in pump and valve commercial activities. However, the development of China's pump and valve industry is facing enormous pressure: we produce more than 50% of the world's valves, but in terms of price, foreign products are often 5 to 10 times higher than similar domestic products. Our competitiveness in the mid to high end market is weak, and there are many development problems in the industry.

    Like many equipment manufacturing industries, China is a major producer of pumps and valves, but not a strong producer of pumps and valves. The low concentration of production in the industry, low research and development capabilities for valves matched with high-end products, and low manufacturing technology level in the valve industry still widely exist.

    Firstly, fierce competition, price war damage and vitality.

    Domestic pump and valve enterprises of all sizes are scattered, and due to the contradiction between production capacity and market supply and demand, there is a price war between the pump and valve industries in various regions. This has led to a situation where the overall profitability of the domestic pump and valve industry is difficult, and the market order is becoming increasingly chaotic.

    In addition, it is not uncommon for enterprises to kill one thousand enemies and self harm eight hundred in the process of going global. At present, the landing points of Chinese valve manufacturers are limited to Ethiopia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, and some Southeast Asian markets. These markets are small in scale, the decision-making process is entirely dependent on prices, and profit margins are limited. There are many domestic enterprises, and in order to establish a foothold overseas, low price competition is also unavoidable.

    Secondly, outdated technology and lack of core competitiveness.

    Our country's valve enterprises are mainly low-level, small-scale, and family workshop style enterprises. In terms of products, due to repeated investment and insufficient technology introduction, the leading products of valve enterprises in China are still low-quality mass products.

    It is understood that currently, various valves produced by Chinese enterprises generally have disadvantages such as external leakage, internal leakage, low appearance quality, short service life, inflexible operation, and unreliable electric and pneumatic valve devices. Some products are only equivalent to the international level of the early 1980s, and some valves required for high temperature, high pressure, and critical devices still rely on imports. In terms of high-end technology, there is still a significant gap between domestic enterprises and foreign manufacturers, so technology will be a bottleneck that restricts the development of valve products in China.

    The third and third low are common, hindering the development of enterprises

    Low price competition and technological backwardness have led domestic pump and valve enterprises to generally face three low problems: low prices, low added value, and low profits.

    Due to the impact of price wars, it is difficult for pump and valve enterprises to achieve profit growth; In addition, the concentration of the pump and valve market industry is relatively low, and the basic production of low value-added middle and low-end products further squeezes the profit space of enterprises. In addition, some township enterprises have low starting points, rudimentary equipment, and extremely weak technical strength. Most of them imitate production, with low product prices and poor quality, and disorderly competition, disrupting normal market order.

    Overall, the root cause of the problems faced by China's pump and valve industry lies in outdated technology and insufficient innovation capabilities. Therefore, in order for enterprises to break through difficulties, ultimately they still need to rely on technological development.

    Survival in adversity requires technological innovation.

    The prospects of China's pump and valve industry are broad. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the demand for pump and valve products in the domestic market will also further increase. In addition, with the continuous progress of pump and valve technology and the gradual recovery of the economy, China's pump and valve products will also usher in a new stage of development.

    In recent years, the attention paid by the whole society to energy conservation and environmental protection has also influenced the future direction of pump and valve products. Its technological innovation should also meet the needs of economic and social development, with the goal of producing green, energy-saving, and high-quality products, and achieving leapfrog development in technology. In addition, due to the need for complete engineering, the supply of pumps and valves has evolved from a single variety to multiple varieties and specifications. The trend is increasing that all the pump valves required for an engineering project will be provided by one pump manufacturer.

    An important indicator to measure whether an enterprise is progressiveness and competitive in the market is its technical level. Only with strong technological innovation ability can it produce high-quality products. Therefore, the research and development of core technologies in the pump and valve industry will undoubtedly become the key to enterprise development. Chinese pump and valve enterprises need to strengthen technological innovation, eliminate outdated production capacity, enhance market competitiveness, and expand development space.

    Taking self-control valves as an example, as a very important part of environmental protection equipment, their prospects are widely optimistic. However, due to the significant gap in high-end technology compared to well-known foreign manufacturers and the lack of professional talents, the bottleneck of China's self-control valve industry moving towards high-end has been unable to be overcome, which will inevitably affect the global competitiveness of China's self-control valve industry. Therefore, relying on technological innovation to break through manufacturing bottlenecks will be the major trend in the future development of China's automatic control valve industry, and even the entire pump and valve industry.

    In addition, with the acceleration of the restructuring of the pump and valve industry, pump and valve enterprises can only gradually improve their product technology level, meet domestic device matching, comprehensively achieve product updates, increase product added value, and enhance their core competitiveness through continuous technological innovation, development of new products, and technological transformation.

    It is reported that in the next 10 years, new valve products supporting major engineering construction projects such as thermal power, nuclear power, hydropower, large-scale petrochemical industry, oil and gas gathering and transportation pipelines, coal liquefaction, and metallurgy will become the focus of development, and are expected to lead the high-speed growth of the entire valve market.

    Driven by the four major forces of industrialization, urbanization, reform, and globalization, the prospects for China's pump and valve equipment manufacturing industry are broad. Enterprises are facing enormous challenges in transitioning towards high-end, undertaking international advanced manufacturing, and participating in international division of labor. Accelerating the research and production of industrial core technologies is the main way to seize this historical opportunity. Enterprises should actively respond, focus on cultivating innovation capabilities, continuously improve their production technology, and strengthen their competitive advantages.