"Southern China Ceramics" to create a new engine for ceramic development

Time: 2015-06-16 10:42:16


Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province is the hometown of Chinese blue and white porcelain. It is known as the “Southern China Porcelain Capital”. Ceramic production has been more than 800 years old. It is one of the four major blue and white porcelain production bases in China and is the main producing area of China's export ceramics. .

For thousands of years, the industrious people of Tai Po have used their local high-quality and rich porcelain resources to develop their wisdom. They have created the unique style of Tai Po Ceramics by “collecting the great achievements of the world’s famous kiln and the essence of Huizhonghua’s skills”. Bai Ruyu, Ming as a mirror, as thin as paper, sounds like a cymbal, and is well-known at home and abroad. In the past, there was a saying that “there is Jingdezhen in the north and the Gaoyu Baiyu City in the south”. The stilts mentioned here are located in the south of Dapu County.

As the first batch of professional demonstration bases for foreign trade transformation and upgrading in Guangdong Province, in recent years, the ceramic industry in Dapu County has developed rapidly and ceramic production has increased continuously, becoming one of the main ceramic producing areas in China. According to the statistics of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Light Industrial Products and Crafts, in 2014, the export volume of Meizhou craft ceramics in Guangdong exceeded 188 million US dollars, surpassing Chaozhou in Guangdong and Quanzhou in Fujian, becoming the largest exporter of craft ceramics in China.

Rapid development to seize the opportunity of the demonstration base

In recent years, the Dapu County Party Committee and the county government have attached great importance to the development of the ceramic industry. They have adhered to the industrialization concept of “big industry, big economy and trade”, adhered to the development path of “scientific and technological innovation, cultural creativity”, and took the construction of foreign trade transformation and upgrading demonstration base as the starting point. Promote the transformation and upgrading of the Taipu ceramic industry, and establish a ceramic industry development pattern centered on provincial-level technological innovation towns (Gaoyu Town) to drive the three towns of Radiant, Taoyuan and Zhourui. The ceramic industry has become the mainstay of the Tai Po economy.

After rapid development in recent years, especially the transformation and upgrading of the demonstration base, Taipu Ceramics has revived. At present, there are one Gaochun ceramic industrial production base and three ceramic production communities in Dapu County (Guangde, Taoyuan, Zhourui), forming an industrial pattern of “one park and three communities”. There are 186 ceramic production and operation enterprises, including 29 enterprises above designated size, 2 enterprises with output value exceeding 100 million yuan, and 45 self-operated export enterprises. According to statistics, in 2014, the output value of ceramics industry in Dapu County was 2.526 billion yuan, and the export trade was 183 million US dollars, up by 26.3% and 22% respectively.

Lian Zengfa, deputy director of the Economic and Information Technology Bureau of Dapu County, said that the construction of ceramic industrial parks in Dapu County is conducive to avoiding industrial homogenization competition, and is also conducive to pooling resource advantages and launching regional brands.

In the Gaochun Ceramic Art Industrial Park in Dapu County, the reporter saw that there are more than 20 enterprises in the park, specializing in their own special products. The geographical indication certification trademark “Tai Po Blue and White Porcelain” registered in 2014 can be seen everywhere in the park and enterprise factories. The large-scale porcelain-shaped gatehouse of the industrial park, the “ceramic cultural wall” with a length of 2 kilometers, and the ceramic industry tourism reception center that is under construction with blue-and-white tiles to decorate the outer wall, highlights the cultural symbol of “Dapu Ceramics”.

Misplaced development creates a healthy competition space

“One of the reasons for the development of ceramic industry in Taipu County lies in the consensus of “dislocation development” among local enterprises. Each company has its own product characteristics and market positioning, which largely avoids plagiarism and low-price competition. "The situation of benign competition has formed." Yang Yunshan, secretary-general of the Tai Po County Ceramics Industry Association and senior engineer of the Ceramics Industry Management Office of Dapu County, said that after he graduated from high school, he went to the state-owned ceramics enterprises in Dapu County to work as general workers and workshops. Directors, directors and other positions have witnessed the painful changes and transformation of Tai Po Ceramics in the past 30 years.

Taipu County has a long history of porcelain making, and its technology and porcelain clay have obvious advantages. However, due to the serious homogenization of the industry, the exploitation of raw materials and the disorderly management of the industry, the development of ceramics in Dapu County was blocked in the 1990s, and small workshops were closed down. Some skilled workers and technicians of porcelain crafts flowed to Jingdezhen in Jiangxi and Chaozhou in Guangdong. Waiting for ceramic origin.

In order to break the development dilemma, Meizhou City and Dapu County Government respectively set up work leading groups to uniformly deploy and organize the development of ceramic industry. Lian Zengfa said that the Dapu County government convened local ceramic enterprises to integrate superior resources according to factors such as product sales, technical characteristics and market positioning, to guide enterprises to misplace operations, and to deepen ceramic vertical classification to achieve differentiated development.

The “Dapu County Ceramic Industry Management Office” and the “Dapu County Ceramic Industry Association” where Yang Yunshan is located are the ones that Dapu County has established for the planning and management of the ceramic industry.

Today, the main products of Dapu County include five series of more than 10,000 varieties of decorative art porcelain, daily-use ceramics, special ceramics, purple clay pottery and sanitary ceramics. However, more than 180 ceramic enterprises in Dapu County are able to highlight their characteristics and develop in a fierce market competition. Guangdong Baofeng Ceramics Technology Development Co., Ltd. specializes in daily-use ceramic cups, known as the “king of the “mouth cup””; Xishan Ceramics Co., Ltd. employs well-known domestic painters and artists to participate in the creation of ceramic art, and to make ceramic art and fine products. Taihua County Special Ceramics Co., Ltd. is taking the road of "three high" special ceramics with high difficulty in firing, high technology content and high added value.

Transforming the road to build a science and technology trade service platform

The rapid development of Taipu ceramics exports benefited from the natural advantages of porcelain clay, hydropower and population, and on the other hand, it was inseparable from the efforts of local governments and enterprises to strengthen industrial transformation and upgrading.

Zeng Xiangshou, deputy director of the Meizhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, told the reporter that the ceramics of Dapu County experienced two technological transformations of the kiln. The first time was in the 1990s, when Taipu County introduced liquefied furnace equipment using LPG as fuel from Taiwan, which solved the problem of unstable burning of traditional dragon kiln, and expanded the production scale and production technology. The second time was the “kiln technical reform” in 2008. Dapu County invested more than 40 million yuan in energy-saving technical transformation of kiln, which improved the rate of product firing and energy-saving loss rate. These devices use both electric and natural gas fuels, electric power can be burned in medium-temperature porcelain below 1200 °C, and ceramics that require higher temperatures such as blue-and-white porcelain and special ceramics continue to be heated with natural gas.

There are 115 kiln furnaces in the base enterprise, and the qualified rate of product firing has increased by 8%~13%, and the energy saving rate has reached 20%~35%. The qualified rate of daily-use ceramics fired by Jiyu Ceramics Co., Ltd. can be as high as 95%. Its products in the United States pass the most stringent "California Standard" for daily-use ceramics, accounting for about 70% of the daily-use ceramics exported by Tai Po to the United States.

At the same time, the Dapu County Government led the ceramic base enterprises to actively implement the strategy of “developing trade through science and technology”. In the past three years, the base foreign trade public service platform has invested more than 17 million yuan, purchased more than 300 sets of R&D, testing, laboratory and other equipment, and built a complete laboratory, testing room, process design room, performance laboratory, etc. 69 companies carry out design and development, experimental testing, technical support, technology training, equipment sharing and other services.

Jiyu Ceramics Co., Ltd. was originally a small workshop for glaze decals in Taoyuan Town. It was converted into daily-use ceramics after the renovation of the kiln in the 1990s. Due to the use of underglaze hand-painted technology, the daily ceramics they produce are beautifully flowered, while the high-temperature firing under the glaze can seal the raw materials and almost no harmful substances can be detected. The chairman of the company, Zhong Youyan, said: "We have cooperated with well-known professors from South China University of Technology and Jiaying College to establish an industry-university-research cooperation mechanism and an independent product testing system." The research and development and application of its self-developed "weathered ceramic glaze" "The scientific research achievements won the second prize of Meizhou Science and Technology Award."

Embracing the group to push the Taipu ceramics regional brand

With the overseas sales of Tai Po Ceramics, the brand culture of Tai Po has gradually become known and recognized. Dapu County vigorously implements the famous brand and brand strategy, plans and promotes ceramic brand brands such as “Taipu Blue and White Porcelain” and “China Gaochun”, and encourages ceramic enterprises to participate in various trade fairs and expositions at home and abroad, and continuously explore domestic and foreign markets.

At the 117th Canton Fair that just ended in May, 35 Meizhou ceramic enterprises led by the Meizhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce and the Dapu County Government exhibited more than 100 innovative ceramic products independently researched and developed by domestic and foreign enterprises and consumers. Favor. According to incomplete statistics, at the Canton Fair, Taipu Ceramics received orders from more than 60 countries and regions, and the contracted turnover reached US$10.18 million, a sharp increase from previous years. Among them, craft ceramics was 49.98 million US dollars, accounting for 48.4%; daily-use ceramics was 53.2 million US dollars, accounting for 51.6%.

Zeng Xiangshou introduced that in addition to participating in the Canton Fair and other domestic exhibitions, the base mobilized more than two batches of organized enterprises each year to participate in professional trade fairs with the regional brands of “China's Blue and White Porcelain Township” and “Taipu Blue and White Porcelain”. In September this year, Dapu County will also organize 18 companies in the base to participate in the “China Brand Commodities Europe Exhibition (2015 Birmingham Autumn Consumer Goods Expo)” in the “Tai Po Blue and White Porcelain” regional brand to explore the international market.

Today, Taipu focuses on the development of the ceramic industry and is working hard to shape the ceramics brand. In the past three years, in addition to the “Taipu Blue and White Porcelain” regional brand, the base has cultivated and registered ceramic independent brands such as “Gaoyu”, with a total of 66 brands, among which 3 trademarks including Xinma, Jiyu and Fuda were “famous in Guangdong Province”. “Trademark” title, adding 4 brand-name products from Guangdong Province (Baofeng, Tetao, Jiyu, Fuda). The base ceramics gradually changed from unlicensed and OEM to licensed and famous brands. The proportion of independent brand exports to the total export of base ceramics increased year by year, reaching 37.9% in 2014.

It is reported that Taipu Blue and White Porcelain GI product protection system and industry standards are also being formulated to regulate industry development, protect independent property rights, and respond to overseas anti-dumping and green barriers.

Transformation can be carried out in a number of ways to explore the road to breakout

From June 7th to 8th, Huang Qiang, secretary of the Meizhou Municipal Party Committee, went to Taipu to investigate and demanded that Taipu should be characterized by ceramics, adhere to innovation drive, integrate technology and cultural elements, vigorously develop industrial ceramics and art ceramics, cultivate key enterprises, and build high-end products. Promote the transformation and upgrading of the ceramic industry. After continuous exploration by the government and enterprises, Dapu County has formed a number of emerging development paths such as industrial tourism, e-commerce, and Hakka cultural ceramics.

According to reports, Tai Po invested more than 50 million yuan last year to improve ceramic tourism facilities, create new highlights of ceramic tourism, and expand the route of ceramic culture. The county specializes in transforming the Meihe Expressway Sanhe exit to the county-level connecting line level road into a landscape road displaying blue-and-white porcelain, and adding a ceramic culture street in the sports center of the Tai'an Building Hakka Culture Park. Dapu County Fuda Ceramics Co., Ltd. takes the road of “ceramics + tourism” and owns the first 3A-level industrial tourism scenic spot in Meizhou.

The development of e-commerce is the general trend of enterprise development. Nowadays, many ceramic enterprises have also sniffed the business opportunities. In addition to the traditional sales channels, they have also opened online stores to achieve online sales. For this relatively new sales method, many ceramic enterprises have “electric shock” online, and believe that the network sales method not only greatly reduces the marketing cost, but also expands the company's popularity and sales group. Up to now, more than 20 base companies have established business platforms such as “Alibaba” and “Guangdong Yifa.com”. "Daily ceramics are being processed, and ceramics are being used daily." In recent years, ceramic enterprises in Dapu County have incorporated Hakka culture into ceramic products based on the original landscapes, figures, flowers, birds, grass worms, and patterns. A group of ceramics with independent intellectual property rights and distinctive national characteristics, such as the Hakka Wailong House series and the Hakka style series, have been introduced. At present, there are more than 1000 new products in Taipu blue-and-white porcelain, which are more and more popular among people because of their beautiful appearance, elegant and generous, rich subject matter and elegant and refined.

The reporter saw that the construction of the second phase of the Gaochun Industrial Park was in full swing, and the planning of the Guangzhou Haizhu (Taipu) Industrial Transfer Industrial Park was under construction. The Taipu ceramics enterprises will further expand their capacity. With the opening of the entire line of Meida Expressway and its east extension line, as well as the construction of the Dachao and Dagu Expressways, the problem of transportation and logistics in Taipu will be greatly improved. Taipu and even the whole Meizhou will break through the mountains and realize Revitalize and develop.

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