Three industrial zones near the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province,
China have dozens of international and Chinese chemical companies. This area is one of China’s highest chemical
company concentration and chemical output areas. The three industrial zones are: Ningbo
Economic and Technology Development Zone (NETDZ); Ningbo Daxie Development Zone
(NDDZ); and Ningbo Petrochemical Economic and Technology Zone (NPETZ).
NETDZ, a state-level economic zone, established in 1984, one
of China’s first economic zones, covers about 30 square kilometers. International companies in the zone include:
Exxon Mobil; Dow; BP; DuPont; Mitsui Chemcial; Mitsubishi Chemcial; Akzo-Nobel;
and others. A free trade zone is within
NETDZ. The port of Beilum, one of the
largest in China, is adjacent to NETDZ.
Click here to go to the NETDZ website.
NDDZ, also a state-level economic zone, set up in 1993, is
located on Daxie Island, and smaller, interconnected islands, just off-shore
from NETDZ, and connected to the mainland by a highway and railroad
bridge. NDDZ has about 26 kilometers of
coast line for port activities, including about 11 kilometers considered deep
water. NDDZ is an important petrochemical
center in China. Major Chinese
petroleum companies SINOPEC, CNOOC, and PetroChina have facilities located in
NDDZ. Non-Chinese companies located at
NDDZ include: Mitsubishi Chemcial; Linde; and Hanwha Chemical. Click here to go the NDDZ website.
NPETZ is the third industrial zone near Ningbo City with
numerous chemical companies. NPETZ,
which became a state-level economic zone only recently in 2010, is located
along the southern Hangzhou Bay coastline not far from Ningbo City and from
NETDZ and NDDZ. NPETZ covers about 56 square
kilometers. The zone was set up
primarily for chemical industry companies. Supposedly the largest refinery in
China, a SINOPEC facility, is located at NPETZ.
Other international companies include: LG; Total; Formosa Plastics;
Laxness; Akzo-Nobel; and SK Group. NPETZ
apparently was set up for locating chemical enterprises further away from urban
areas around Ningbo. Click here to go to
the NPETZ website.
Zhejiang Province, where Ningbo is located, is one of the
two provinces plus Shanghai city that borders Hangzhou Bay and make up the
Yangtze River Delta Economic Region. This
economic region accounts for about 20% of China’s gross domestic product and
about 33% of its imports and exports.
Click here (PDF file) for a United States Government report on the
Yangtze River Delta Region.
According to Province and National Bureau of Statistics of
China data, the Yangtze Delta Region in 2006 accounted for: 33.5% of raw chemical material products;
24.9% of medical and pharmaceutical products; 71.4% of chemical fibers; 28.7%
of rubber products; 36.5% of plastic products; and 16.7% of petroleum processing
and coke products, and nuclear fuel processing produced in China. The same sources indicate that in 2006 the
Yangtze Delta Region accounted for about 30% (1,603.06 billion Yuan/5,293.51
billion Yuan) of the gross production value of China’s chemical industry.
The above data suggests that the Yangtze River Delta Region
would be a high priority area for foreign international chemical companies to
consider locating in. In doing so,
researching the suitability of various economic development zones such as
NETDZ, NDDZ, and NPETZ, described above, is important. Locating in an economic zone (park) that is
right for one’s company can be critical to the success of the company. A report by Mortenson provides some useful
information on the economic zone system in China and on deciding on the right
economic zone (park) in the Yangtze River Delta Region. Click here (PDF file) to read this report.
