Across China: Industrial province restructures to thrive amid overcapacity

On his first day at work, Zhang Jianwei was impressed by the cement company's green grounds -- its plant occupies 180,000 square meters but over a quarter of that is lawns.

At the Jinyu Cement Company in Handan City of north China's Hebei Province, all the greenery is irrigated by treated industrial effluent, a practice which helps the company save 100,000 tonnes of water every year, according to Zhang, who has been working as its chief engineer for a week.

Thanks to its emphasis on environmental protection, Jinyu has been growing healthily at a time when many of its peers are struggling for survival amid overcapacity and pollution concerns.

Zhang Zhanmin, general manager of the company, said: "Our products have been selling well despite the fact that the overall market demand has been shrinking, since our efforts in green production and high technology have helped us reduce costs and improve quality."

Since being founded in 2010, Jinyu has invested 90 million yuan (13.8 million U.S. dollars) in improving equipment and bringing in new technology to save energy and cut emissions, Zhang Zhanmin said.

"For example, we have been using surplus heat from production to generate electricity and the annual power generating capacity is about 36 million KWH, which can help us save over 10 million yuan and reduce carbon dioxide emission by 8,000 tonnes," he explained.

The company will not stop its exploration of green technology. "We are now constructing a rock recycling program, which will help us further reduce cost and save resources," Zhang Zhanmin said.

Hopefully Jinyu's experience can offer some insights for other manufacturers facing piling inventories in a sluggish market.

Hebei Province is a heavy industrial hub. During the past few years, overcapacity in such sectors as steel, cement and glass has been dragging down profit margins for manufacturers there amid China's economic slowdown.

Hebei is aspiring for renewed development through multiple measures such as reducing outdated and polluting production capacity, transforming traditional sectors and nurturing emerging industries.

According to Song Limin, deputy director of the provincial development and reform commission, the province cut 33.91 million tonnes of production capacity in the iron industry, 41.06 million tonnes in the steel industry, and 138.34 million tonnes in the cement industry from 2011 to 2015.

Meanwhile, provincial authorities have been encouraging factories to relocate and adopt advanced technologies, as well as speeding up mergers and acquisitions in order to fuel higher-quality development.

"We will increase the proportion of high-end products in the heavy industrial sectors, and shift our focus from the production of energy and raw materials to deep processed products," Song said.

The province's Handan Iron and Steel Group has been reaping success from its strategy of moving up the value chain. Li Yaoqiang, head of the company's cold mill plant, said: "We have been striving to develop deep-processed steel products in recent years under the pressure of sagging demand."

Currently, about half of the company's production is deep-processed steel products, which are used in the automobile, home appliance, building, ship-making, aerospace and machinery sectors. Endi