Source: China Economic Network - Economic Daily
Tonghua 2× 660,000 kilowatts of raw coal required for the Kengkou power plant is directly transported from the coal mine to the power plant, and within 1 hour, the raw coal of the production working surface can be turned into electricity into the power grid, reducing the cost of coal transportation and power generation, highlighting the advantages of the Kengkou power plant, and forming an international standard coal-power integration model. Photo by Wu Ling
In the "territory" of the domestic coal industry, Shanxi is absolutely pivotal. In this large coal province and energy province, provincial coal enterprises play a huge role. However, the coal enterprises in Shanxi Province, which have undergone several adjustments and reforms, are large but weak, and there have always been problems such as industrial convergence, separate wars, and large but not strong. "Thriving on coal, trapped in coal", only reform can break the situation! In 2020, Shanxi's coal industry lasted 6 months to carry out strategic restructuring, and the Economic Daily reporter recently launched an investigation and interview to explore the reform ideas behind the changes in Shanxi coal enterprises.
For nine days, Datong, Shanxi, which is located outside the Sai, was particularly cold. Early in the morning, Guo Shudong, chief of the operation and management department of the Coal Transportation and Marketing Corporation of Jinneng Holding Coal Group, came to the Tashan Coal Mine Transportation and Marketing Station to load the car and keep an eye on the shift. At this time, the outdoor temperature has reached minus 23 ° C, and ice can be hung on the eyelashes.
"As in previous years, our biggest responsibility now is to play the role of 'stabilizer' and go all out to increase production and supply." Guo Shudong rubbed his hands and told reporters. Talking about the series of coal enterprise restructurings that have just passed, he feels that in addition to the change in the name of the company, everything else is as usual, "Our company is now the second largest industry in China and the third largest in the world, 'Jumbo', and we are very proud as employees." But as far as the feelings of these months are concerned, the asset restructuring has little impact on our frontline, and the transition feels very smooth."
Unlike the "calm" that Guo Shudong feels, at Jinneng Holdings Finance Company, it is an all-nighter and hot scene, where everything is "changing greatly".
"After the restructuring, we became a 'giant aircraft carrier' and the volume of business grew exponentially. In order to meet the business needs of the newly recruited member units, Jinneng Holdings Finance Company upgraded and transformed its business system in an all-round way. Huang Yue, an employee of the information technology department of Jinneng Holdings Finance Company, said that the company broadened financing channels, innovated financing methods, and promoted the informatization, intelligence and digital construction of asset management platforms. Up to now, the core business system project has been directly connected with 7 banks and enterprises, with the ability to go online; the virtual private network direct connection private network transformation project has been successfully implemented, and more than 300 group units have handled business through the Internet access system.
Whether it is calm or hot, changes are taking place in Shanxi, a big coal province and a big energy province. From April to October 2020, Shanxi's coal enterprises were strategically reorganized from the past "seven feet standing" to a new pattern of "double aircraft carriers" led by 1 energy group and 1 coal company. This restructuring and integration is not only an important node in a new round of strategic restructuring of state-owned enterprises in Shanxi Province, but also a major event in the reform process of China's energy industry.
Why the strategic restructuring of coal companies? What happened to the business benefits after the restructuring? What efforts do Shanxi coal enterprises need to make to achieve "rebirth"? With these questions, the Economic Daily reporter visited in depth.
Why reform is necessary
In April 2020, the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic is still in a critical period, and various localities are gradually resuming work and resuming production. In the view of Gao Jianfeng, head of the third research department of the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences (Shanxi Provincial Government Development Research Center), it is not easy to implement the strategic reorganization of coal enterprises in such a special period, "while fighting the epidemic and maintaining the stability of production and operation, it is equivalent to moving a 'load-bearing wall' and doing 'major surgery'".
Why promote such a big strategic restructuring at this point in time? The reporter's investigation found that the reform of coal enterprises in Shanxi is imperative.
Coal companies have always been the backbone of Shanxi's economic development. In the early days of the founding of New China, there were eight major mining bureaus in Shanxi, all of which were enterprises directly under the central government. With the development of social economy and the reform of state-owned enterprises, the mission of the Mining Bureau has gradually been completed, and the establishment of a modern enterprise system has become inevitable, and the five provincial coal groups in Shanxi have come into being, namely Tongmei Group, Coking Coal Group, Yangmei Group, Lu'an Group, and Jinmei Group. In the integration of Coal Resources and the merger and reorganization of coal enterprises in Shanxi since 2008, Shanxi Coal Import and Export Group and the former Shanxi Coal Transportation and Marketing Group (later known as "Jinneng Group") have also become the main body of integration. At this point, the number of state-owned coal groups in Shanxi Province has changed from 5 to 7.
Quantity does not mean quality. Liu Wei, director of the Strategic Planning Department of the Shanxi Provincial State-owned Assets Operation Company, told reporters that as of the end of 2019, the total assets of the seven coal enterprises in Shanxi Province were about 2.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 70% of the total assets of provincial enterprises, accounting for a high proportion and great influence in the state-owned economy. "However, in these seven major coal enterprises, there are coal, chemical, electric power, coal machinery and other business sectors, there are problems such as industrial convergence." In the market competition, the seven major coal enterprises are fighting for each other, large but not strong, and the quality and efficiency of the enterprises will be greatly reduced. Liu Wei said.
"Traditional industries 'large quantity is weak' and emerging industries 'strong and weak' coexist, Shanxi Province's enterprises within the internal industry convergence, low-level homogeneous development, disorderly competition in the same industry is serious." The overall scale effect of state-owned enterprises is small, and they lack the right to speak in the industry. Shanxi Provincial State-owned Assets Operation Company spokesman Yan Zhao said.
It is in this context that The Shanxi coal industry has begun to reorganize and integrate. The restructuring is mainly divided into two parts, one is to clarify the coal industry's own problems, and the other is to cultivate emerging industries.
Nowadays, after the professional strategic reorganization, the new territory of Shanxi's state-owned assets and state-owned enterprises has been unveiled. "The number of provincial coal enterprises has been adjusted from 7 to 2, which is fundamentally to solve the problem of survival and development of coal enterprises." Liu Wei told reporters, "The restructuring and integration of coal enterprises this time is not to not develop coal, but to improve industrial concentration, enhance the market vitality and competitiveness of the coal industry, provide strong support for the cultivation and growth of strategic emerging industries, and win time and space for transformation and development." ”
"The next five years will be the key five years for Shanxi to achieve 'transformation out of the prototype'." Lou Yangsheng, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, pointed out that Shanxi has carried out a strategic reorganization of provincial coal enterprises to form a new pattern of "double aircraft carriers" leading the energy industry of Jinneng Holding Group and Coking Coal Group, and this reform will promote the real formation of Shanxi's energy advantages into a fist, so that "the advantages are really excellent, the advantages are better, and the advantages are long-term".
Consolidation and restructuring has changed something
"This integration and reorganization is not a simple merger of similar items." Liu Jing, full-time deputy secretary of the party committee and vice chairman of Jinneng Holding Group, said that this restructuring is a development upgrade, jumping out of Shanxi to seek development, taking the initiative to benchmark domestic and international first-class large-scale energy groups, and also upgrading competition, moving the stage of Shanxi coal enterprises to the great change of the world energy revolution.
During the interview, the reporter found that a number of industry insiders analyzed the changes brought about by the strategic restructuring of coal enterprises in Shanxi Province from three dimensions.
The first is horizontal integration. In the past, the homogenization competition of coal enterprises was more serious, and coal enterprises "small, weak, scattered" could not form a joint force, through this round of restructuring and integration, one is to improve industrial concentration, can better release advanced production capacity, the second is to enhance the overall economic efficiency, and the third is to improve international competitiveness.
In October 2020, Jinneng Holding Group, the largest coal enterprise in Shanxi, was born with a registered capital of 50 billion yuan. The group was jointly reorganized by Tongmei Group, Jinneng Group and Jinmei Group, and simultaneously integrated the relevant assets of Lu'an Group and Huayang New Material Technology Group and China (Taiyuan) Coal Trading Center. After the reorganization, Jinneng Holding Group manages more than 300 coal mines in the province, and from the perspective of coal production in 2019, the total output of the three main enterprises is about 339 million tons. Together with some of the coal production transferred by Yangmei Group and Lu'an Group, it is about 400 million tons. In terms of coal management, Jinneng Holding Group established Jinneng Holding Coal Industry Group, which consists of four coal divisions in Jinyang, Lu'an, Yangquan and Jincheng.
The other "double aircraft carrier" is the coking coal group. Shanxi is rich in high-quality coking coal resources, in order to obtain a greater right to speak in the industry, the former coking coal group adopted the method of gratuitous transfer, absorption and merger, and reorganized the shanmei group. After the reorganization, the total assets of the coking coal group are 441.64 billion yuan, and the coal production capacity is about 200 million tons, making it the largest coking coal production and processing enterprise in China.
The second is vertical reorganization. For a long time, with the price fluctuations, coal and electricity profits have been traded off one after another, and joint operations have formed a community of interests, which can better cope with the external market, convert coal on the spot, and maximize the benefits of coal. After the formation of the cluster, enterprises will meet regularly to help each other, and do not squeeze each other's market. In 2021, Shanxi coal enterprises will further increase cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises inside and outside the province, and increase the intensity of opening up and integration.
Again, professional refactoring. The restructuring of Jinneng Holding Group is designed in accordance with professional ideas, forming three major sectors of coal, electricity and equipment manufacturing, and the main business of the new energy group is better and stronger. Since the three months of restructuring, the three major sectors have advanced rapidly, and various operating indicators have improved to varying degrees.
Before the formal establishment of Jinneng Holding Group, the integration of professional restructuring has been one step ahead. In July 2020, Lu'an Chemical Group integrated and reorganized the high-quality chemical assets of Shanxi provincial enterprises such as Yuanyang Coal Group, Jin Coal Group and State Holdings Group on the basis of Lu'an Group's "coal-to-chemical integrated industry", becoming the largest and strongest specialized group in the chemical field in Shanxi. In October 2020, Yangmei Group changed its name to Huayang New Material Technology Group, focusing on the research and development and application of carbon materials, forming a strategic pattern of carbon-based new materials as the main industry.
The same goes for coking coal groups. "In this professional reorganization, Shanxi Coking Coal has further clarified the development direction and built the Group into a world-class coking coal enterprise and coking enterprise with global competitiveness." In the next step, the Group will focus on building five major industries: coking coal, coking, coal chemical industry, civil explosion and finance. Ma Bucai, full-time deputy secretary of the party committee and vice chairman of the shanxi coking coal group, told reporters.
"The fundamental purpose of the heavy restructuring of Shanxi coal enterprises is to solve the problem of transformation." Zhou Jianqi, director of the Enterprise Evaluation Research Office of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that horizontal alliance is conducive to improving comprehensive strength, vertical coordination is conducive to improving the quality of development, and professional focus is conducive to reform and innovation.
The effect of reform is gradually translating into transformation efficiency and enterprise efficiency. Statistics show that since June 2020, the production and operation of coal enterprises in Shanxi Province have accelerated their improvement, and the indicators have been repaired month by month. In the first 11 months of 2020, the profit was 17.187 billion yuan, and the decline in major indicators continued to narrow. Among them, the profit achieved in September was 4.03 billion yuan, an increase of 13.7% year-on-year, setting a record high in the history of a single month, and it was also the first time since 2020 that positive monthly profit growth was achieved.
"After the reorganization, jinneng holding group's high-quality coal production capacity will be greatly improved, and its market competitiveness may be further enhanced; Jinneng Holding Power Group may take new energy manufacturing and renewable energy power generation as breakthroughs to lead the comprehensive reform of the energy revolution in Shanxi Province." Jiao Jingping, technical director of Beijing Energy Research Management Consulting Co., Ltd., said in an interview that the restructuring conforms to the trend of high-quality development of the coal industry. At the same time, this "big move" will help accelerate the withdrawal of backward and super-capacity production mines and promote the transformation of old mining areas.
Where to go after the first step
"This restructuring and integration is an upgrade of advantages, converting Shanxi's coal resources into power resources, and then transforming power resources into factor advantages to support emerging industries." From the perspective of the intensity and difficulty of reform, it is a heavy restructuring, with professional integration and plate operation to complete the reform of the operation and control mode of coal enterprises, and maximize the release of the reform dividends of state-owned enterprises. However, in order to achieve a real 'rebirth', it is also necessary for enterprises to carry out a series of deep ploughing and meticulous work in terms of governance structure and control measures. Liu Jing said.
"Transformation and restructuring is only the first step in the 'Long March'. After the restructuring, the company still has to face a number of challenges. It is necessary to truly turn the reform dividend into a competitive strength and become the supporting force for The transformation and development of Shanxi. Gao Jianfeng believes that after the reorganization and integration, the "double aircraft carrier" enterprises set many missions in one, and they have a long way to go to do a good job in the second half of the energy industry transformation and development.
"After the industry is classified, the supporting organizational management, management control, cultural integration, incentive mechanism, etc. all require strategic thinking." Zou Shaohui, deputy dean of the School of Management of Xi'an University of Science and Technology, pointed out that although Jinneng Holding Group has established a professional integration and plate operation idea, it needs major innovation to form specific scientific and efficient integration measures. In this regard, Jiao Jingping believes that after the reorganization, it is necessary to smooth out the problems of ownership, asset integration, debt repayment, and personnel management system, and also need to do a good job in corporate strategic positioning and reshape corporate culture.
According to relevant statistics, as of the end of 2019, the debt ratio of the seven major coal enterprises in Shanxi Province generally exceeded 70%, and the total debt has increased to 1.44 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.3% over the end of 2018. In response to the debt problem, Guo Jingang, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Jinneng Holding Group, said that it will accelerate the realization of the financing function of Jinneng Holding Group and achieve orderly debt succession. In order to ensure financial stability and the orderly continuation of debts, Jinneng Holding Group has taken active and effective measures to ensure the orderly development of financing during the transition period, comply with information disclosure obligations, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors.
"Since 2020, the recovery of coal enterprises in Shanxi Province has also created a rare environment for reform and reorganization, and reform and reorganization and quality and efficiency have formed a positive cycle of mutual promotion." Zou Shaohui also pointed out that "the level of the industrial chain is a long-term process, which requires continuous investment in talents, technology, markets, etc., and cannot ignore the long-term and arduous nature of China's energy structure adjustment, and should focus on the shortcomings, 'smell the wind and think', but also 'smell the wind and change'." ”
To make up for shortcomings, we must not only innovate, but also integrate scientifically. Zou Shaohui suggested, "The coal chemical industry will double the benefits of solving the problem of coal tar extraction and the development of coal tar deep processing industry; equipment manufacturing should take the road of intelligent development." At the same time, coal enterprises must take the road of multi-energy integration and development, realize the development of coal + new materials, coal + new energy, and vigorously develop new formats driven by the energy revolution."
How should Shanxi's "double aircraft carriers" enlarge the reform dividend in the future and further improve quality and efficiency?
"In the next step, we will firmly follow the development path of 'reduction, excellence and green', build tens of millions of tons of cluster mines, and improve the level of yield and single entry." In terms of electricity, continue to increase the proportion of photovoltaic power, gas power generation, and wind power, so that clean energy accounts for more. In terms of equipment manufacturing, we should grasp the general trend of intelligence and develop high-end equipment manufacturing. Resolutely build a high-tech, high-efficiency, intelligent, environment-friendly modern energy flagship. Liu Jing said.
"On the basis of full investigation and demonstration, coking coal group put forward the 'three three years and three steps' strategic plan, put forward the 'resource reorganization, organizational restructuring, cultural reshaping, enterprise revitalization' as the main direction of attack, to 'focus on the main business, deepen reform, comprehensive reform, innovative development' as the specific path, do everything possible to increase quality and efficiency, and promote the high-quality development of enterprises." Ma Bucai said. (Source: Economic Daily - China Economic Network)