Introduction: With the continuous introduction of environmental protection and energy-saving and emission reduction policies by the country…
Recently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued an announcement on six national environmental protection standards, including the "Technical Requirements and Testing Methods for Continuous Automatic Monitoring Systems for Ambient Air Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5)." The announcement includes technical requirements and monitoring methods for continuous automatic monitoring systems for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), continuous automatic monitoring systems for gaseous pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, CO), and samplers for particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). Industry insiders say that the gradual introduction of monitoring technologies and methods will bring huge benefits to manufacturers and users of environmental monitoring instruments. For the instrument and meter market, which has just emerged from its downturn, environmental monitoring instruments have undoubtedly stood out as a standout.
Market space is gradually expanding
In December 2012, more than half of China's regions were shrouded in smog, and the exposure and recognition of the professional term PM2.5 rapidly increased. Additionally, according to the China Environmental Strategy Report, 190 million people in China have drinking water with harmful substances exceeding standards; about one-third of the urban population is exposed to excessive air quality; and 150 million mu of farmland have degraded due to pollution. This shows that environmental protection is an urgent priority. To this end, relevant national departments have pointed out the need to strengthen the introduction of environmental monitoring quality standards and increase monitoring efforts for PM2.5 and other related conditions.
In fact, in recent years, the national policies on environmental protection, energy conservation, and emission reduction have brought a positive wave of policy to the development of the environmental monitoring instrument industry. In April 2012, the Ministry of Environmental Protection released the "National Environmental Monitoring 12th Five-Year Plan," which proposed that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, pilot monitoring of many indicators such as heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and surface water quality such as biotoxicity and volatile organic compounds in the air will be gradually carried out. According to analysis, during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the environmental monitoring industry will launch online monitoring markets with multiple indicator systems, including online monitoring of flue gas from thermal power plants, heavy metals in air and water, and biological toxicity monitoring in water quality, in addition to PM2.5.
The release of this environmental monitoring plan demonstrates the country's determination in environmental governance and has also driven the expansion of the market for environmental monitoring instruments and equipment. According to incomplete statistics, in 2008, China's environmental monitoring instrument industry generated revenue of 6.311 billion yuan. By 2012, from January to November, within just 11 months, the industry's revenue reached 12.616 billion yuan. So far, 150 million yuan from the central budget has been allocated to support the development of environmental protection instruments and equipment.
According to China Business Intelligence Network, the environmental monitoring market size will grow by at least 30% over the next three years, and by 2015, China's environmental monitoring market size will exceed 30 billion yuan. Industry experts told the media that during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, conservative forecasts suggest the market size for environmental monitoring instruments could reach around 20 billion yuan.
In the future, with the growth of niche fields such as environmental monitoring, industrial process monitoring, and laboratory instruments—especially in the environmental monitoring sector—investments will gradually be secured and environmental issues will drive the industry, entering a boom cycle.
Localization will still take time
Environmental monitoring instruments are specialized field instruments that collect and analyze data to identify pollution sources and environmental background pollution conditions. Currently, environmental testing instruments in China mainly cover water, air, soil, and other aspects. After more than a decade of development, the environmental monitoring instrument market has gradually risen in the instrumentation field. A number of listed domestic instrument companies such as Juguang Technology, Xianhe Environmental Protection, Xuedilong, and Tianrui Instruments have the capability to compete on the same stage with foreign companies.
On July 9, the China Environmental Monitoring Center released the list of certified and tested products for automatic environmental air monitoring systems (as of July 9, 2013), including 13 products from eight instrument companies such as Thermo Fisher, Sailhero Environmental Protection, and Focus Technology. While demonstrating the company's advantages, it also reflects that there are few large-scale instrument manufacturers in China. Currently, the variety and quantity are far from meeting actual needs.
In fact, most instrument and meter manufacturers in China are small and medium-sized enterprises. These companies lack sufficient production capacity, mainly focusing on mid- to low-end product supply, leading to issues such as price competition, inferior products being passed off as inferior, and poor reliability and stability. Many merchants report that low-quality environmental monitoring instruments experience issues such as low monitoring frequency, large sampling errors, and inaccurate monitoring data during use. These issues not only affect the scientific decision-making and seriousness of environmental management and law enforcement, but also easily discourage enterprises' enthusiasm for pollution control and environmental protection. High-quality analyzers, specialized monitoring instruments, and automatic monitoring systems are mostly imported from abroad, so domestic instruments account for a very small share.
To accelerate the pace of localization, the government has introduced corresponding procurement policies. Recently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection released the "Implementation Plan for the Second Phase of Monitoring of the New Air Quality Standard," stipulating that regions undertaking the implementation tasks should, under equal conditions, prioritize selecting cost-effective monitoring instruments and equipment, and procure domestic equipment according to government procurement requirements.
Policy support has made environmental monitoring instrument companies confident in the development of domestic instruments. Yao Naxin, CEO of Juguang Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd., pointed out at the recently held 13th China International Environmental Protection Exhibition that domestic monitoring instruments need a mature process. Currently, there may be gaps in product maturity and reliability compared to mature foreign products, but the technical approach is consistent. This requires the market to allow time for domestic instruments to become more mature, stable, accurate, and reliable. Domestic instruments can fully meet market demands and applications, and they offer better cost performance and better service.
Looking forward to the implementation of environmental monitoring guidelines
The environmental monitoring instrument market has entered a healthy track, and the implementation of monitoring-related policies is an unavoidable topic and a focal point for many companies. An instrument user told the media that there is currently a lack of unified standards for monitoring data domestically, especially in the fields of water ripples and heavy metals. In addition, to respond to national policies, local governments have had to implement monitoring instruments, but the actual monitoring results in some places and whether some devices remain idle remain questionable. The environmental protection industry is a national policy-driven sector and requires government policy implementation.
In response, Yao Naxin stated that the environmental protection industry itself is policy-driven, and whether it's environmental monitoring or governance, it must rely on strong government leadership. It is hoped that, as economic development can bear the burden, stricter laws and regulations on environmental monitoring and governance will be introduced as soon as possible, and enforcement of these laws and regulations will be strengthened.
Wu Youhua, Vice Chairman of the China Instrument Society, said in an interview: "Currently, the country needs to gradually strengthen support for the instrumentation industry and cultivate a group of enterprises with innovative capabilities, independent intellectual property rights, and their own flagship products." In 5 to 10 years, the advancement of this industry will drive the equipment manufacturing sector toward new industrialization. ”
Article link: China Instrument Network
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