Embarking on a new journey for the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, Luzhou has set a clear goal: to focus on building and strengthening industrial chains around its "5+5" key industries, aiming to form a modern industrial matrix comprising 2-3 trillion-yuan clusters, 3-4 five-hundred-billion-yuan clusters, and a number of hundred-billion-yuan clusters. Notably, the energy and chemical new materials sector has been identified as the second trillion-yuan industry following the liquor sector, signaling a strong commitment to strengthening the industrial engine and driving industrial advancement.
As the renowned "City of Chinese Liquor," why has Luzhou chosen the energy and chemical industry as its breakthrough point for industrial transformation? How does it plan to build this new trillion-yuan industry? Recently, Peng Li, Party Secretary and Director of the Luzhou Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, provided an in-depth explanation of the "second growth curve" for this key industrial city in southern Sichuan.
When asked why energy and chemicals were selected as the focal point for the next trillion-yuan industry, Peng Li explained that the decision was not based on following trends but was grounded in three key factors: inherent resource advantages, a solid industrial foundation, and the responsibility to serve national and provincial strategies.
Regarding resource endowment, Luzhou boasts substantial shale gas reserves with prospective resources reaching 4.5 trillion cubic meters, ranking among the top in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. The Guxu mining area, designated as a national planning area during the "11th Five-Year Plan," holds over 30% of Sichuan's coal reserves. Additionally, verified pyrite resources amount to 2.1 billion tons, the highest in the province. These resources provide a solid raw material foundation for building a complete industrial chain from resource extraction to application.
In terms of industrial base, Luzhou is the birthplace of China's natural gas chemical industry and is recognized as one of the national large-scale chemical and fine chemical bases. The city has gathered more than 110 upstream and downstream enterprises, including Beifang Chemical, Lutianhua, and Chuantianhua. It has established 8 provincial and national enterprise technology centers and has 8 pilot testing platforms either operational or under construction. Luzhou also hosts three provincial-level D-grade standard chemical industrial parks—Luzhou Lutianhua Chemical Park, Luxian Shenxiangiao Chemical Park, and Hejiang Lingang Chemical Park—tying for the highest number in the province. Thus, the energy and chemical industry represents Luzhou's most robust, well-supported, and promising sector after liquor, fully possessing the potential and conditions to develop into a trillion-yuan cluster.
From the perspective of national and provincial strategies, the central government's "16th Five-Year Plan" recommendations emphasize consolidating and enhancing the global position and competitiveness of industries like mining, metallurgy, chemicals, and light industry. Provincial recommendations call for accelerating the development of emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, nuclear medicine, and additive manufacturing. As a major port city on the upper Yangtze River, a regional central city at the junction of Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, and Guizhou, and a key node in the Western Land-Sea New Corridor, developing a trillion-yuan energy and chemical industry is both an intrinsic requirement for building a modern industrial system and a responsibility to serve major regional strategies.
Regarding the strategy for building the energy and chemical industry into a trillion-yuan cluster during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, Peng Li stated that Luzhou will focus on the trillion-yuan target by strengthening existing capacities through transformation and upgrading, expanding scale through investment promotion, and activating potential through technological innovation. The city will deeply implement the "Five Diagrams" operation, integrate the "Five Chains," and carry out the "Five Major" actions to promote high-end, green, intelligent, and integrated industrial development. Efforts will concentrate on three key dimensions.
First, emphasize strategic layout. This involves deepening intensive resource extraction and comprehensive utilization, and focusing precisely on six key tracks: natural gas chemicals, specialized deuterated products, high-end new materials, clean energy and new energy storage, biomanufacturing, and sulfur-phosphorus chemicals. The aim is to achieve greater results in cultivating new quality productive forces. For example, in clean energy and new energy storage, Luzhou is focusing on areas like anode and cathode materials for power batteries, all-vanadium redox flow batteries, and distributed photovoltaics. Last year, the city successfully attracted the Zhongke Electric project with an investment of 7 billion yuan, which is expected to generate over 6.5 billion yuan in output value upon completion.
Second, emphasize project support. Luzhou will improve the "Six Batches" project construction management mechanism, implement project quality and efficiency competitions, and accelerate the completion and operation of key projects such as Chuantou Natural Gas Power Generation and Luzhou Chanrong Anode Materials. Construction will also begin on high-quality projects like Beifang Tianpu Cellulose Ether and Puluo New Materials. By 2028, these efforts are expected to add 35 billion yuan in output value. Furthermore, the city has planned and reserved 20 key projects, including the Phosphorus-Sulfur New Energy Industrial Park and a new PPEK industrial chain, with total investments reaching 80 billion yuan, providing strong support for high-quality industrial development.
Third, emphasize innovation drive. Luzhou will continue to strengthen the role of enterprises as the main body of innovation, tackle key technologies such as fine natural gas chemicals and deuterated reagent synthesis, and empower industrial transformation and leapfrog development through technological innovation. On one hand, it will support leading chain enterprises in forming innovation consortiums to foster integrated innovation across the upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the industrial chain, involving both large enterprises and SMEs. On the other hand, it will strengthen pilot testing platforms as a "key hub," focusing on bridging the "last mile" from the laboratory to the production line. Currently, leading chain enterprises like Lutianhua, Chuantianhua, and Beihua Co., Ltd. are conducting pilot research in areas such as long-chain alpha-olefins, polyamides, and bamboo-based cellulose. Notably, the polymer functional new materials pilot platform, invested in and developed by Chuantianhua, has successfully attracted pilot projects like Shanghai Lanze's high-carbon long-chain alpha-olefins and Ningbo Feimi's single-walled carbon nanotubes. The maturation and landing of these projects are expected to bring over 2 billion yuan in investment and add 8 billion yuan in output value.
There is firm belief that just as Luzhou used millennia of craftsmanship to create the legendary trillion-yuan liquor industry, it can, with the same dedication and perseverance, cultivate a new辉煌 (brilliance) of another trillion-yuan industry.
Comments