Ningxia’s new materials industry looks toward the future

Ningxia's new materials industry is looking to achieve an output value of more than 200 billion yuan (about $31 billion) by 2025, with an average annual growth rate of about 20 percent, according to a news conference on Friday.

Lei Dongsheng, who is in charge of the industry's high-quality growth in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, announced the goal at the conference. He said Ningxia will complete fixed assets investment of more than 150 billion yuan in the field, with an average annual growth rate of more than 10 percent, during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

With policy support and abundant natural growing resources, Ningxia has been developing new materials, new energy and new food industries.

Ningxia's Department of Industry and Information Technology coordinated industrial guidance funds of 1.08 billion yuan to 40 key enterprises of new materials. Ningxia's Science and Technology Department invested R&D support funds of 240 million yuan, which encouraged enterprises to invest 2.84 billion yuan for R&D. Ningxia's Education Department, Shizuishan city and other relevant departments jointly established a new materials college.

Focusing on photovoltaic materials, high-performance fiber and other industries with local features, Ningxia introduced a number of well-known enterprises. Last year, the investment of new materials industry was 18.7 billion yuan, totaling 32 billion yuan in the past two years, with an average growth of more than 30 percent.

Five industrial clusters of photovoltaic materials, new chemical materials, lithium ion battery materials, high-performance metal materials, and fine chemical materials have been formed in Ningxia, showing a trend of diversified development and intensive coordination.

In addition, Ningxia has achieved 58 scientific and technological innovations, and 17 utility model patents and built a number of national and autonomous regional-level laboratories and high-tech industries, promoting high quality and efficiency of new materials industry.

By the end of 2021, Ningxia had more than 100 new materials enterprises above designated size with the total industrial output value exceeding 120 billion yuan, with an average growth of more than 30 percent from 2019.

Lei said that Ningxia will strive to build the new materials industry into a pillar of Ningxia's industrial transformation.