Recently, Zibo Bureau of Ecology and Environment issued the “Zibo City 2020-2021 Heavy Pollution Weather Emergency Emission Reduction List”, which orders ceramic enterprises in Zibo production region to gradually suspend production and enter the kiln maintenance period in mid-November. Compared with 2019, the annual production time was slightly shorter in 2020 because of the late start of production due to COVID-19.

Every single production line must be suspended for 45 days in a row

According to the list, from December 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, every single production line in Zibo production region is required to stop production for 45 days. Those enterprises with two or more production lines will take turns to stop production. According to the order schedule,enterprises can declare the time period for shutdown of the kiln for maintenance.

According to the investigation of CTW, some enterprises will suspend the production in mid-November while the the others in mid-December.

This year is the last year of the 13th Five-Year Plan, so most ceramic enterprises are under great pressure on environmental protection, and some producers might have to cut back their orders in this circumstance, according to the player in charge of a ceramic enterprise.

Affected by COVID-19, enterprises started work late, but production is stable in 2020

In 2020, although the annual production time of Zibo production region is slightly shorter than that of 2019, the production is stable.

Zibo Ceramics Exhibition attracted lots of merchants from all over China

In 2019, ceramic enterprises in Zibo production region resumed production after the Chinese Spring Festival since February 10. And they started to suspend production for machine maintenance on November 15, 2019.

In 2020, due to the impact of COVID-19, ceramic enterprises in Zibo were not able to resume production until early March.

Even so, in general, apart from a few enterprises which suspended production due to machine maintenance and overproduction, most of the ceramic enterprises in Zibo maintain stable production in 2020. Some enterprises that failed in the past have either recovered or been taken over by others.  

On August 19th, a symposium on the high-quality development of ceramic enterprises was held in Zibo Economic Development Zone.

In addition, it is worth noting that since 2020, Zibo government have given considerable support to ceramic enterprises in Zibo production region. On August 19, 2020, a symposium on high-quality development of ceramic enterprises was held in Zibo Economic Development Zone, during which relevant officials proposed that "Zibo Economic Development Zone will firmly support the development of Zibo ceramic industry."