A specialized chemical hub in Taixing Economic Development Zone has bucked a nationwide industry slump, posting 50.9 billion yuan ($7.54 billion) in first-half sales, up 2.9 percent year-on-year.
Designated a national featured industrial cluster for small and medium-sized enterprises in 2025, the zone specializes in functional materials derived from light olefins. After three decades of development, it has built an integrated ecosystem where roughly 80 percent of products are consumed within the park itself.
At the center is SP Chemicals, a core anchor enterprise that has reinvested profits more than 30 times since 1995, expanding total investment from $30 million to nearly $3 billion. Its 1.1-million-metric-ton light hydrocarbon utilization project now supplies 650,000 tons of ethylene annually, making the zone China's first chemical park to achieve large-scale olefin production through clean energy.
The cluster follows a chain-development model: filling raw material gaps, strengthening intermediate production, and extending into high-end polymers and engineering plastics. This strategy has cultivated 17 segment leaders and over 30 products that fill domestic market voids.
Innovation and sustainability underpin growth. The zone advances more than 70 technical renovation projects yearly, with annual R&D investment exceeding 800 million yuan, and has nurtured 31 high-tech enterprises. Over 90 percent of park companies have passed clean production audits.
With overseas branches established and international partnerships expanding, the cluster is scaling up toward a higher-level new materials hub.