Aggregate is the largest consumed material of infrastructure construction projects. At present, China is vigorously advancing urbanization and infrastructure construction. The imbalance between supply and demand of aggregates and rising prices have aroused widespread concern from all walks of life in society. In recent years, many national ministries and departments and local governments have jointly issued documents to promote the high-quality and healthy and orderly development of the aggregates industry.

As a bulk raw material for industrial production, aggregates require high-quality standard systems to support high-quality and orderly development. However, due to the lack of necessary norms and standards, the quality of aggregates products is uneven, which cannot meet the requirements of high-quality development of infrastructure construction. It is a top priority to establish a perfect standard and quality inspection system, improve product quality, especially the usage proportion of high-quality aggregates in construction, and encourage companies to register product trademarks and create product brands.

On April 18, China Aggregates Association organized a video conference on the revision of the national standards "Sand for Construction" and "Gravels and Crushed Stones for Construction" to promote standard system for aggregates. Recently, a reporter from China Mining News interviewed Hu Youyi, president of the China Aggregate Association, on issues such as establish of standard system for aggregates.

China Mining News: In recent years, Chinese top government has issued many documents to promote the high-quality and healthy development of the aggregates industry. What does that mean for the development of China’s aggregates industry?

Hu Youyi: In recent years, Chinese government has attached great importance to the aggregates industry, and has published a series of documents to promote the development of the industry.

On September 1, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the "Action Plan for the Production and Application of Green Building Materials".

On May 18, 2016, the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Stable Growth of the Building Materials Industry, Adjusting Structure and Increasing Benefits" to develop manufactured aggregates.

On June 28, 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Code for Construction of Green Mines in the Aggregates Industry", and the aggregates industry rose to one of the nine major mining industries. Entrusted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, China Aggregates Association organized experts to participate in the preparation of the specification throughout the process.

On October 16, 2018, eight departments including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Management of the Sales and Use of Sea Sand Mining, Transportation, and Transportation", requesting that the management of sea sand be strengthened to prevent illegal sea sand from being used in construction projects.

On November 26, 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics announced the "Classification of Strategic Emerging Industries-2018", and manufactured aggregates and recycling aggregates tailings have been included as key products and services for China’s strategic emerging industries.

On November 4, 2019, 10 departments and ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the General Administration of Market Supervision, and the National Railway Group jointly issued “Several Opinions on High-Quality Development of the Aggregates Industry.”

On March 25, 2020, 15 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Housing and Construction jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Orderly Development of the Aggregates Industry". The National Development and Reform Commission made a special statement when issuing this opinion: Aggregates is the most basic and indispensable building material in engineering construction. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the healthy and orderly development of the aggregates industry. In order to stabilize the supply of the market, maintain the overall stability of prices, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry, 15 departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions" with the approval of the State Council.

After the promulgation of the national guidance, various local governments have also jointly issued relevant opinions and specifications for the development of manufactured aggregates in conjunction with the actual local conditions.

At the same time, due to the increasing usage, China has strengthened the construction of ecological civilization, the problem of aggregates supply has become more and more prominent, price increases, out of stock... have affected the formation of physical investment in national infrastructure. On February 28, 2019, the National Audit Office went to the China Aggregates Association to investigate the situation of the sand and stone industry, and reported the specific situation to the State Council. On May 9, 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Water Resources jointly held a meeting to study the causes of the shortage of sand and gravel in the river channel and seek for specific solutions. China Aggregates Association reported at the meeting. On August 21 and August 29, 2019, the Policy Research Office of the State Council twice requested CAA to report on the situation of the aggregates industry, and made suggestions and opinions.

It is unprecedented to see more than ten national departments have jointly issued a document to vigorously promote the healthy development of the aggregates industry over the years. There are truly lots of opportunity for aggregates industry. The next few years will be a "golden age" for the development of the industry. The Chinese aggregates industry must cherish this precious opportunity and comprehensively promote the healthy and orderly development of the industry.

China Mining News: What are the standards and conditions of China's aggregates industry, and how to accelerate the establishment of industry standards and quality inspection systems?

Hu Youyi: The standardization of the aggregates industry is an important foundation for the healthy and orderly development of the industry. It ensures and improves product quality, improves market competitiveness, promotes industrial structure adjustment, eliminates outdated processes, technologies and equipment, realizes product upgrading, and promotes new technological achievements. It plays a vital role in realizing industrialization, promoting scientific and technological progress in the industry, and regulating market order.

In early times, aggregates industry developed in an extensive method, and there were very few national policies and standards related to aggregates. Through everyone's efforts for many years, we have obtained strong national support, and the standard establishment of the aggregates industry has been promoted in an orderly manner.

At present, China annually produces more than 1 billion tons of steel, more than 2.4 billion tons of cement, and more than 3.8 billion tons of coal. The volume is much smaller than aggregates, but they have a much more mature scientific research, quality, standards, inspection and testing system. The annual consumption of aggregates is 20 billion tons. As an emerging industry and new products, manufactured aggregates has a weak foundation in many aspects, and do not have the industry-related standards and specifications, quality inspection and testing systems. Without the support of science and technology, standards, quality inspection and testing, it is difficult to achieve high-quality, healthy and orderly development of the aggregates industry.

On April 10, 2020, the National Standardization Management Committee issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Management of Industry Standards", which called for the accelerated establishment of coordinated, simplified and efficient standard systems, and the full play of the technical support role of industry standards.

In fact, since 2010, China Aggregates Association has organized industry experts to compile and revise a number of standard specifications, GB/T 14684 "Sand for Construction" and GB/T 14684 "Pebbles and Crushed Stones for Construction"; in 2018, Formulated the "Code for Construction of Green Mines in the Aggregates Industry"; in 2019, formulated three group standards of "High Performance Concrete Aggregates", "Green Aggregates Production and Transportation Evaluation Standards" and "Basic Conditions for Laboratory of Manufactured Aggregates Production Enterprises" .

The “Code for Construction of Green Mines in the Aggregates Industry” prepared by experts organized by China Aggregates Association was issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and implemented on October 1, 2018, becoming one of the basis documents for the construction of green mines in China. Two group standards of China Aggregates Association, "Basic Conditions for Laboratory of Manufactured Aggregates Production Enterprises" and "Aggregates for High Performance Concrete", also won the 2019 Group Standard Application Demonstration Project of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Recently, CAA has initiated the revision of two national standards, "Sand for Construction" and " Pebbles and Crushed Stones for Construction ", and the industry standard "Guidelines for Evaluation of Green Factories in the Aggregates Industry" led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is being reviewed. The industry standards "Parent Rock Technology of Manufactured Aggregates" and "Aggregates Industry Standard Terminology" are planned to be re-declared or unified into other relevant standards.

At the same time, in recent years, roads, railways, bridges and other sectors have also formulated some standards related to aggregates. Local governments and some enterprises have developed local standards, which are all components of the aggregates industry standard system.

Driven by the national policy, the transformation and upgrading of the aggregates industries across the country are accelerating. Large-scale production lines are being built and rebuilt one after another. The industry concentration is getting higher and higher. Standards and regulations are urgently needed to guide the development of the industry. At the same time, through the inspection and testing of products to ensure product quality.

Therefore, it is necessary to formulate and improve the standards and specifications of the aggregates industry as soon as possible. If the original standards do not adapt to the development of the industry, they should be revised as soon as possible to establish a product quality standard inspection and testing system to provide solid technical support for the high-quality, healthy and orderly development of the industry.

China Mining News: What impact will the future economic development trend have on the aggregates market demand?

Hu Youyi: In 2020, the Covid-19 has spread around the world, causing great damage to human life and economy.

In order to reduce the infection of the Covid-19 and contain the virus, people’s activities were reduced, which has a huge impact on industries such as catering, hotels, shopping malls, supermarkets, logistics, decoration, transportation, education and training, exhibitions, tourism, entertainment, film and television, etc., and it also affects construction, real estate, finance, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing industry.

Affected by the pandemic and the fall in oil prices, the financial market fluctuated violently. Consumption has decreased sharply, and the global economy has fallen steeply.

On April 17, the National Bureau of Statistics released GDP data for the first quarter. The Chinese economy has recorded a decline of 6.8% year on year since 1962. The primary industry fell 3.2%; the secondary industry fell 9.6%; the tertiary industry fell 5.2%.

China’s three engines of economic growth are exports, investment and consumption. From the perspective of consumption, after the epidemic has basically controlled, domestic consumption has gradually recovered. However, the sudden economic stoppage caused by the epidemic has affected the income of many people, so the consumption may remain sluggish for a long time. As for exports, the Sino-US trade war has a great impact on exports. Recently, the final consumer countries represented by Europe and the United States have fallen into a serious epidemic situation, the total demand has decreased, and the export situation is quite severe.

As for the investment, including infrastructure, manufacturing, and real estate, affected by the Covid-19 and real estate macro-control, manufacturing and real estate investment are likely to decline. In view of the pressure on the consumption and export side, infrastructure investment has become the sole support for economy recovery. Since February, national and local governments have increased their investment in infrastructure construction and the pace of introduction has accelerated.

2020 is a crucial year for China to build a well-off society and overcome poverty. Resuming work and production is a major policy of the Party Central Committee, and it is necessary to maintain political stability, economic stability, and social stability. With the advent of the "post-Covid-19 era", the government's investment in infrastructure has risen.

The "new infrastructure construction" proposed by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on March 4 mainly includes: UHV, intercity high-speed railway and urban rail transit, new energy vehicle charging piles, 5G base stations, big data centers, Seven fields including artificial intelligence and industrial Internet. China's "traditional infrastructure + new infrastructure" plan exceeds 30 trillion yuan.

On April 14, Premier Li Keqiang chaired an executive meeting of the State Council. This year, there are plans to renovate 39,000 old urban communities in all regions, involving nearly 7 million residents, which is double the number of last year, involving 3.52 million residents, renovation and improvement of community supporting facilities and municipal infrastructure, the central government grants subsidies, local government special debts are given preference, and social capital is encouraged to participate in the transformation and operation.

Increase efforts to promote the transformation of old urban communities, which contains huge potential for domestic demand. These can not only create a large number of employment, but also drive effective investment.

In terms of financial support, 3.55 trillion yuan of low-cost funds were provided to financial institutions through three times of RRR cuts, re-loan rediscounts, and was used to issue low-interest loans to enterprises. By the end of March, the interest of about 880 billion yuan of corporate loans had been extended. Since this year, the central bank has cut interest rates by 30 basis points. In addition, it is estimated that there will be at least 20 to 30 basis points of interest rate cuts.

Two years ago, the Party Central Committee put forward the "six stability"-stable employment, stable finance, stable foreign trade, stable foreign investment, stable domestic investment, and stable expectations. Facing the complex and severe epidemic situation, on April 17, the Party Central Committee put forward the "six guarantees" for the first time-to protect the employment of residents, the basic livelihood of people, the market main body, the food and energy security, to ensure the stability of the supply chain of the industrial chain, and to ensure the operation of the grassroots.

China's urbanization rate is 60%, and there is room for growth of about 20 percentage points. Compared with developed countries, China's road networks such as highways, railways, and rail transportation have a relatively low proportion. In the next 5-10 years, the construction of metropolitan areas and roads and bridges, as well as the construction of rural roads contains great potential.

At present, the country is vigorously promoting infrastructure construction, and the demand for aggregates in the second half of 2020 will be huge. The establishment of industry standards, the quality of gravel aggregate products, and the safety of infrastructure construction projects must be accelerated.