On April 14, 2018, Monalisa and the People’s Government of Teng County signed a Letter of Intent for Monalisa Tiles Production Project in Teng County (hereinafter referred to as “the Letter”). That means that, following Oceano, another listed ceramic enterprise has settled down in Zhonghe Ceramics Industrial Park, Teng County, Guangxi Province. Currently, the Park has signed cooperation agreements with Xinduo Ceramics, Xinzhongtao Ceramics, and other 19 ceramic enterprises. Among which, 12 enterprises have built up and put into operation, including 131 production lines of 35 groups and a total investment of more than 13.3 billion yuan. It is learned that the People’s Government of Teng County intends to build itself into a new ceramics center in Southern China.

Ceramic Industry, a Pillar Industry

Among all industries in Teng County, in 2017, ceramic industry registered a total industrial output value of 11.1 billion yuan, up 25.84% as the top industry. The Park recorded a total industrial output value of 11.1 billion yuan, up 35.8%, and the revenue reached 110 million yuan, up 13.4%. Arguably, ceramic industry is the pillar industry of Teng County.

The Letter stated that, Monalisa will tap into its own advantages and build its production base in Teng County into a scientific, advanced, green, intelligent, and clean demonstration enterprise of building ceramics. Insiders have pointed out that, it may be Monalisa’s first large-scale strategic investment after its listing. By investing in Teng County, Monalisa not only seeks to expand production capacity, but also means to meet the market demand. In order to highlight the ceramics of Teng County, in recent years, the People’s Government of Teng County has signed with selected investors, so as to bring in some brand-minded, renowned enterprises dedicated to middle and high-end markets, such as Oceano and Monalisa.

These famous brands have made ceramics of Teng County more visible in the market. On the one hand, they have enhanced the reputation and competitiveness of Teng County in the ceramics industry. On the other hand, they have promoted the transformation and upgrade of other enterprises in the Park, especially in management and operation capabilities.

Government Should Acquire More Land for Enterprises

For enterprises of the Park, the settling-down of famous brands brought opportunities and challenges. According to Yang Genquan, General Manager of Xinduo Ceramics, as the Park got expanded and more enterprises settled down, the most urgent problem is that ceramic enterprises have to scramble for resources. The first is human resources. Recently, Oceano and Monalisa publicized their recruitment advertising, with salary 15% higher than their previous offer. The second is water and raw materials. For example, the exploitation quantity of kaolin is clearly limited in each year, which may lead to the price increases of raw materials.

Besides Oceano and Monalisa, which have signed with the Park in 2017 and 2018 respectively, most of the other 19 ceramic enterprises have signed agreements before 2015. But only 12 have put into operation, and most of them take an area of around 300 hectares(around 200,000 sq.m). with the smallest one only 165 hectares(around 110,000 sq.m). Such a capacity can only meet the needs of county-level market.

It is learned that the Park has a planned area of 21,000 hectares(around 14 million sq.m), with 18,000 hectares(around 12 million sq.m) have finished the land expropriations. In a word, Teng County has no problem in providing land resources. But the land is under national macro-control, so it takes a lengthy procedure to transform the ordinary land to the land for industry. 

According to the investment agreement of 400 million yuan signed between Oceano and Teng County, the People’s Government of Teng County should finish the land expropriations for the project three months after the signing. Then we can see that, behind the strenuous efforts of bringing in role model enterprises, the People’s Government of Teng County should work hard to secure more land.

Plans of Building Ceramic Supporting Industry and Logistics Center

According to Xiao Libiao, the President of Monalisa Group, Monalisa chose to settle down in Teng County, not only for its abundant resources and transport advantage, but also for its favorable investment and governance environment. The Letter notes that, as Party B, Monalisa’s industrial projects enjoy relevant preferential investment policies of the state, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Teng County, Wuzhou City.

Guangxi Oceano Ceramics has signed the agreement and settled down in  September 2017. It’s construction began on March 20, 2018. The project is expected to take three stages to complete. Eight production lines will be installed, which will deliver an annual output of 30 million sq.m of high-end ceramic with production value of 1.5 billion yuan. It is expected to create an annual tax revenues of around 70 million yuan and nearly 1,300 jobs.

The reporter has learned that the Park has a planned area of 20,000 hectares(around 13,333,400 sq.m), and plans to build 200 production lines of 70 groups. When all are put into use, the annual output will reach 30 billion yuan, and the supporting output will achieve 10 billion yuan, while the annual tax will achieve more than 1 billion yuan. In the future, pigment, glaze, carton, mould, hardware, mechanical processing, and other related enterprises will also enter the Park. Teng County will spare no efforts in building ceramic supporting industry and a business logistics center, and will strive to build the Park into a national key, comprehensive base for building ceramics production and trade.