Steady development with green and low-carbon initiatives

Concrete and cement-based products is one of the main industries of green building materials, and the green development of the whole industry in 2024 is remarkable. The national green product certification has become one of the most growing state-promoted certification systems under the vigorous promotion of the General Administration of Market Regulation, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments. By the end of September 2024, a total of 8,429 valid green building materials product certification have been issued nationwide, with 40 of sub-categories. Among them: 2,685 for ready-mixed concrete and 636 for prefabricated components, ranking first and second in 18 subcategories respectively. On December 16, 2024, the Department of Energy Conservation and Comprehensive Utilization of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the 2024 Green Manufacturing List Public Notice, in which six concrete and cement-based products enterprises and two admixture enterprises were shortlisted.

A force for building a “waste-free city”

Concrete and cement-based products are the largest industry in China's building materials industry, which is indispensable in the construction of the national economy, at the same time, concrete is one of the most important industries in China's consumption of industrial solid waste and construction waste. Over the years, concrete has been carrying China's industrial solid waste and construction waste resourceization undertaking. According to preliminary estimates, in 2024, China’s concrete and cement-based products industry transforms 2 billion tons of cement, over 10 billion tons of sand and gravel (natural sand and manufactured sand), and nearly 1 billion tons of industrial solid waste and construction waste into safe, high-quality, and durable cement products and ready-mixed concrete, which will be delivered to the infrastructure market. This contributes positively to ecological environmental protection, the construction of “zero-waste cities,” and the green development of a beautiful China.

The comprehensive utilization and harmless disposal of bulk solid waste phosphogypsum is a world-class challenge. The cumulative stockpile of phosphogypsum in Yichang City, Hubei Province alone has reached 100 million tons. In the past two years, Hubei Changyao New Materials Co., Ltd. has increased its research and development investment, innovatively developing new products and technologies for the concrete industry, such as phosphogypsum hydraulic binder, phosphogypsum lightweight aggregates, and phosphogypsum roadbed stabilizers. They have successfully achieved industrial transformation and pioneered a green development path for the bulk utilization of phosphogypsum that is ecological, environmentally friendly, and replicable. As a result, each cubic meter of concrete can “consume” more than one ton of phosphogypsum.

Cultivating the industry's new quality productivity

China's concrete and cement-based products industry continues to make new achievements in technological innovation. In 2024, “Design/Preparation Technology of Anti-Corrosive Cementitious Materials for High-Speed Railway and Development of Applications in Harsh Environmental Engineering” led by Prof. Wang Fazhou of Wuhan University of Technology, “Long-life Design and Key Technology of Structural Concrete Improvement under Severe Service Conditions” led by Prof. Jiang Jinyang of Southeast University won the Second Prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress. In 2024, 24 projects won the “Jianhua Engineering Award” and 32 projects won the “Concrete Science and Technology Award of China Concrete and Cement-based Products Association”.

These honors show to the whole society the advanced achievements of the concrete and cement-based products industry in the process of cultivating new quality productivity and building a modern building materials industrial system. The innovation ability and technical equipment level of China's concrete industry are rapidly improving, and the concrete technology has now reached the international advanced level, part of which has reached the international leading level; the industrial structure continues to be optimized, and an industrial chain has been formed from material design, raw material preparation, concrete production, logistics and transportation to engineering services, which has made an important support and contribution to the construction of China's infrastructures and all kinds of projects.

Concrete application scenarios are constantly being refreshed by new technologies

The application fields of UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete) are continuously expanding; the prefabricated tower segments for wind power have made breakthrough developments; the prospects for the application of shotcrete in culverts, tunnels, hydraulic engineering, and slope protection are promising. More cutting-edge material research and application achievements are emerging. On June 30, 2024, at 15:00, the highly anticipated Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge, a key project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, officially opened for trial operation. The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge integrates "bridge, island, tunnel, and underwater interconnection" and is a national major project and a world-class cross-sea cluster engineering. The project took seven years to build, and the project team developed and created 15 world-first core materials, key technologies, and national heavy-duty equipment, achieving 10 "world records." These include the world's largest sea-based suspension bridge anchorage (83m long, 83.85m wide, 51.5m high, with a concrete volume of about 344,000m³ per anchor), the world's longest bi-directional eight-lane subsea immersed tunnel (5,035m long, 32 segments + 1 final joint), and the world's largest concrete pouring of steel-shell immersed self-compacting for a single unit (with a concrete pouring volume of 29,000m³ per segment, totaling 910,000m³).

A new type of green building material, supercritical carbon dioxide foam concrete, has been successfully developed by the Carbon Concrete Technology Team of China University of Mining and Technology. The team has pioneered a new method for carbon dioxide mineralization and storage within the foam pores of foam concrete. They are the first to introduce supercritical carbon dioxide foaming technology into the field of lightweight concrete. Additionally, they have invented a supercritical carbon dioxide foaming concrete method and device with independent intellectual property rights, and successfully developed supercritical carbon dioxide foam concrete, making a significant breakthrough in the field of low-carbon building materials.

    Leading the world in the application of UHPC in some areas

China leads the world in the application of UHPC (Ultra High Performance Concrete) for the construction of bridges, roads and major projects. Compared with ordinary concrete, UHPC is stronger and more durable; compared with steel structures, UHPC structures are more resistant to fatigue. In addition, UHPC also has good resistance to impact and abrasion, and is expected to play a role in the marine environment in the future, with its high density and durability protecting the main structure of the cross-sea bridge. With the rise of low-carbon buildings around the world and China's “Transportation Power” strategy, UHPC with its significant advantages has made a big splash in the market. In June 2024, Hunan University's UHPC Materials and Structures Innovation and Application Team won the first “China Concrete and Cement-based Products Industry Outstanding Engineer Team” award in the concrete industry.

Striding towards the international market

Concrete and cement-based products enterprises attach great importance to the development of “going out”, they bring new technology, new equipment, new products and new services to the infrastructure market of the countries along the “Belt and Road”. In 2024, China Concrete and Cement-based Products Association (CCPA) released “The Forth Recommended List of Key Products, Equipment and Technical Services for ‘The Belt & Road’”, in which 9 products, equipment and technical services from 9 enterprises were selected. The first three batches of Recommended List were released in 2020, 2022 and 2023 respectively It has been publicized and promoted to the competent authorities of the national “Belt and Road” work, construction authorities of national and local governments, domestic large-scale engineering and construction groups, relevant government departments of countries along the “Belt and Road”, commercial offices of embassies in China, foreign engineering and construction units, and relevant domestic and foreign industry associations, and has been highly recognized by the relevant departments and organizations and paid great attention to by the members. CCPA also carries out active publicity and promotion for its member enterprises to “go out”.

Digital intelligence reshapes the concrete industry

In 2024, there will be “zero-carbon factories” and “smart factories” in the concrete industry. The development of digital intelligence is becoming more and more effective, with the help of the Internet, Web of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, the informationization and intelligence level of the concrete industry has been further improved, and a number of enterprises in the forefront of the “unmanned testing”, “unmanned laboratory” and so on. The energy-saving, automation, intelligence pf China's concrete mixing equipment, conveying equipment, transport vehicles are making rapid progress, especially in the ultra-high-rise pumping concrete technology, which has formed a complete technical system of preparation and engineering applications. China's concrete mixer trucks range from highway type to engineering type, from pure electric to hydrogen fuel and hybrid products, and their technology is leading the world.

China Concrete Exhibition moves to Guangzhou

China Concrete Exhibition is being upgraded, the organizer of the exhibition announced: China Concrete Exhibition will be opened in Guangzhou. In September 2025, it will be held in the “Canton Fair Complex” with nine professional exhibition to jointly build the 2025 China International Concrete Expo. China Concrete Exhibition has become the largest exhibition in the field of domestic concrete materials industry and engineering technology. In previous editions of the exhibition, relevant management departments and industry associations from provinces, cities, and autonomous regions, as well as enterprises, design institutes, purchasers, and general contractors from sectors such as construction, municipal engineering, transportation, railways, water conservancy, and new energy, have formed delegations to visit, investigate, and discuss business cooperation. The pace of internationalization of China Concrete Exhibition is also accelerating. It has attracted many businessmen from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, the United States, France, South Korea, Russia and more than ten countries along the “Belt and Road” as well as the Taiwan region to visit the exhibition.

Industry association joins hands with head enterprises to rebuild industrial ecology

Facing the high-quality development of the industry with new quality productivity, green and low-carbon, digital intelligence as the main direction, CCPA and head enterprises are joining hands with the whole industry to undertake the mission of rebuilding the ecology of the concrete industry. In 2024, sponsored by CCPA, the conference of leaders of large-scale enterprises of the ready-mixed concrete industry of the whole country and the conference of leaders of large-scale concrete enterprises in South China, Southwest China, East China and other regions have been convened. The meeting focused on the “pain points”, “difficulties” and “focus” of the industry, and widely gathered consensus to discuss ways to solve the problems. Head enterprises and industry associations jointly exchanged information on reducing “accounts receivable”, joined hands to thwart “involutional” competition, and actively reconstructed the industry ecosystem around the industrial chain for the healthy development of the industry.

“Shotcrete operator” becomes a new job category

On July 31, 2024, the General Office of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the General Office of the General Administration of Market Supervision, and the Office of the National Bureau of Statistics issued the “Notice on the Release of Occupational Information for Bio-engineering Technicians and Other Occupations”, and “Shotcrete Operator”, declared by CCPA, has become one of the new types of jobs released this time.