Publish Time：2020-11
In recent years, with the rapid development of industries such as food processing and pharmaceuticals, market demand for valve products has surged, driving the rapid growth of the valve industry. At present, China’s food-grade valve portfolio is rich and diverse. Butterfly valves, diverter valves, control valves and other types are widely used for precise regulation of liquid, gas and other media, keeping process parameters such as pressure, flow rate and liquid level at set values. These valves are extensively applied in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical and other sectors.
As reported, the output of China’s valve products (including food-grade valves) has maintained steady overall growth. Statistics show that China’s valve output exceeded 7.8 million tons in 2017, representing a year-on-year increase of nearly 3%. The output surpassed 8 million tons in 2018, and reached 8.2 million tons in 2019, with an approximate 5% year-on-year growth. Market demand for Chinese valve products is projected to keep an upward trend from 2020 to 2022.
Nevertheless, on a global scale, the valve industry hosts a large number of participants and faces fierce overall competition. Meanwhile, the industry suffers low market concentration, with most domestic manufacturers remaining trapped in the low-end segment of the market.
Though low-end valves feature strong general usability, they are low in technical added value, with obvious gaps in sealing performance, appearance design, service life, and the technical maturity of electric and pneumatic actuators, leading to weak overall product competitiveness. As new players continue to enter the market, competition for valves (including food-grade valves) will become even more intense, and profit margins in the low-end segment will further shrink.
On a positive note, backed by active government policy support and guidance, as well as the empowerment of new-generation technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, valve products are seeing rising technological content and enhanced competitiveness. The pace of import substitution by domestic Chinese valves is accelerating, and home-grown valve brands are on the rise.
Jingjiang City, Jiangsu Province, is nationally renowned as the "Hometown of Stainless Steel Pumps & Valves", with the pump and valve sector standing as one of its pillar traditional industries. In response to the requirements for high-quality development, Jingjiang has been guiding local valve enterprises to take technological innovation as the core driver, focusing on the development direction of green, high-efficiency, mechatronic integration and intelligent manufacturing. The city has pushed forward strategies for technical innovation, standardization, smart production and robotic application, scaled up industry-university-research cooperation, and promoted innovation across the industrial, product and value chains to forge new competitive strengths.
As of last year, Jingjiang was home to over 350 pump and valve enterprises, with the total industrial output value of the sector exceeding 8 billion RMB. However, the local pump and valve industry has long faced prominent pain points: small-scale, scattered and fragmented layout, poor industrial clustering, severe low-end positioning and product homogenization, and a scarcity of large, leading flagship enterprises, making industrial transformation and upgrading a difficult process.
To further boost the competitiveness of the entire pump and valve industrial chain and better align with market trends, local enterprises have focused on high-end and emerging industries, continuously increasing investment in new product R&D and technical upgrading, with corporate R&D spending showing a year-on-year upward trend.
At the same time, enterprises have strengthened strategic cooperation with universities and research institutes, exploring an integrated innovation model combining teaching, research and industrial application. This helps accelerate the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, enabling companies to achieve transformative leapfrog development in the next growth phase.
With the continuous expansion of valve demand from downstream food, pharmaceutical and other industries, and driven by technological innovation, domestic valve manufacturers are steadily improving their production craftsmanship, technical sophistication and product quality. The outlook for China’s domestic valve market remains highly optimistic in the future. Domestic valve enterprises with strong technical strength and a core focus on innovation are poised to seize greater opportunities and further expand their market share.
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