Valve is an important part of large-scale complete plant, which is mainly used to cut off, throttle, regulate pressure and change flow direction of pipeline medium (material, water, steam, air and oil, etc.).
There are many kinds and specifications of valves, wide applications and large consumption, which can be divided into industrial valves and civil valves. Industrial valves are mainly used to regulate the flow, pressure, temperature, liquid level and other process parameters in the field of industrial automation process control.
In the global market demand for industrial valves, oil and gas, including drilling, transportation and petrochemicals, account for the highest proportion, followed by energy, electricity and chemical industry. In the application fields of domestic industrial valves, chemical industry, energy and power industry and oil and gas industry are also the main markets for valve sales. In the next few years, with the rapid development of China's economy and the improvement of industrial automation, the transformation and upgrading of China's equipment manufacturing industry, and the continuous growth of national investment in oil and gas, petrochemical, environmental protection, electric power, metallurgy and other fields, China's industrial valve market will maintain a rapid growth.
At present, China's key valve manufacturers have been able to design and manufacture various valves in accordance with ISO international standards, DIN German standards, AWWA American standards and other international standards. The products of some manufacturers have reached the international advanced level, the overall level of the valve industry has been greatly improved, and some products have also entered the overseas market. However, compared with foreign products, China's valve industry has fierce market competition. At present, the scale of enterprises in the market is small, and the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises is more than 90%. Most enterprises are backward in technology, mainly concentrated in the low-end market. This leads to the lack of competitiveness of China's valve products in the international market, the lack of high-end product development.
In the past two years, due to the impact of international trade friction, the international demand of China's valve products has declined, and international trade has been challenged. According to customs data, during 2017-2019, the export amount of China's valve industry showed a fluctuating upward trend, reaching US $16.624 billion in 2018, with a year-on-year growth of 13.5%; in 2019, the total export amount of China's valve industry dropped to US $16.231 billion, with a year-on-year decline of 0.02%. In this context, China's valve enterprises should improve product technology and quality, increase high-end product R & D technology, catch up with the international level as soon as possible, and improve international competitiveness.
Relevant experts pointed out that qualified enterprises should speed up industrial upgrading and move forward to medium and high-end valve products, such as petroleum, nuclear power and other national key development fields. The market potential of domestic substitution of imported valves can not be ignored. At present, China's economic situation and various policies continue to be favorable, providing extremely favorable development factors for China's valve industry. Although there is still a certain gap between China's valves and foreign countries, the key for China's valve enterprises is to further improve the product quality and technical content. Only by consolidating the foundation and unremitting exploration and innovation, can China's valve brands become famous overseas and gain more market share.
