Flourishing industry in Zhanjiang down to modernization

Editor's Note: This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and to celebrate, we are publishing a series of stories illustrating how Zhanjiang city in Guangdong province has advanced Chinese modernization. The following is the third story in the series.

Zhanjiang, a city in South China's Guangdong province, is distinguishing itself through the development of a modern industrial system centered on green steel production, green petrochemicals, green energy, green food, and blue maritime initiatives. These efforts have set a robust foundation to sustain its long-term economic growth.

In recent years, green petrochemicals, modern agriculture and food, advanced materials and new energy industries, each with annual industrial output values exceeding or approaching 100 billion yuan ($14.25 billion), have emerged as driving forces of Zhanjiang's modern industrial development.

According to the local government, in 2021, the green petrochemical industry became the first industry cluster in Zhanjiang to achieve an annual industrial output value exceeding 100 billion yuan, driven by the Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical Project.

In 2022, the revenue of the modern agriculture and food industry cluster was 175.03 billion yuan, ranking first among prefecture-level cities in Guangdong. The development of advanced material industry clusters over the past few years has been rapid, with the accelerated construction of green energy industries such as offshore and onshore wind power, photovoltaic and hydrogen energy.

In the first seven months of 2024, key project investments in Zhanjiang amounted 487.06 billion yuan. The construction of 50 key projects also commenced, according to the local government.

This year, a multitude of key projects launched by industrial behemoths like BASF, CNOOC, and Baosteel were completed. Construction commenced on Baosteel's zero-carbon steel plate factory and Zhongke Refinery and Petrochemical's new EVA plant. In the first seven months of this year, Zhanjiang's major industrial clusters completed industrial investments of 17.14 billion yuan, marking a 56 percent year-on-year increase.

BASF's Verbund site project in Zhanjiang. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhanjiang is making every effort to develop billion-dollar industrial clusters in grains, fruits and vegetables, livestock and traditional Chinese medicine. It is also accelerating efforts to transform into a modern marine ranch demonstration city. With a stable grain planting area exceeding 4.22 million mu (281,333 hectares), the production value of agricultural products like sweet potatoes and pineapples is heading toward the billion-dollar mark. Zhanjiang has secured recognition as a national characteristic industrial cluster for golden pomfret fish and oysters.

Zhanjiang's volcano sweet potatoes sell like hot cakes. [Yang Chuan for chinadaily.com.cn]

This year, construction began on the top 10 agricultural projects in the city, which include China's first automatic lifting marine ranch Zhannong No 1 and Guangdong's largest truss-structure mariculture platform Hengyi No 1.

In the realm of cultural tourism, positioned at 21 degrees north latitude, Zhanjiang is drawing inspiration from renowned coastal tourist destinations such as Dubai, Hawaii, Miami and Cancun. The city is promoting the development of its tourism brand known as "Xianmei Zhanjiang" (literally fresh and beautiful Zhanjiang), inviting people to explore the beauty and local cuisine and accelerating the transformation of the city into a top-tier coastal tourist destination. From January to July, Zhanjiang welcomed 13.89 million visitors, representing an 8.4 percent increase from 2023. This influx generated tourism revenue of 13.91 billion yuan, reflecting a 9 percent year-on-year growth.

Li Shenglan, an economics professor of Guangzhou-based Sun Yat-sen University, said that BASF's investment demonstrates Zhanjiang's appeal and its advantage in developing green petrochemicals.

She suggested that Zhanjiang take better advantage of its agricultural and maritime economy due to its distinctive strengths.

"Zhanjiang might also focus more attention on the R&D of new energy, new materials and biomedicine by leveraging its booming maritime industry," she advised.

Looking ahead, Zhanjiang will accelerate the establishment of its modern industrial system with distinctive characteristics. It will develop new quality productive forces to support its upgrade and transformation, local officials said.

Currently, Zhanjiang is home to more than 500 research and development institutions. In 2023, the total R&D expenses of the city increased 70.9 percent year-on-year, ranking first in Guangdong province in terms of growth rate.