In recent years, Shanxi Luliang Jiaocheng Economic Development Zone has insisted on using import and export trade as the engine of development, fully exploiting the advantages of hydrogen-rich resources in the coking industry, promoting the coordinated linkage and mutual promotion of the two major industries of nitro fertilizer and molten salt, and leading the high-quality development of the regional economy through industrial integration and innovation to achieve new breakthroughs.
Based on the industrial foundation and resource endowment, the development zone has built an industrial upgrading path of “two-way empowerment and coordinated development”.
On the one hand, relying on the mature global marketing network and stable customer resources of nitro fertilizer products, it helps molten salt products quickly open up the international market; on the other hand, using molten salt products to enter the global green energy supply chain drives the traditional chemical industry to extend and transform into green and low-carbon fields.
Focusing on full-chain export services, the development zone has accelerated the creation of a comprehensive service system that integrates R&D and manufacturing, international logistics, on-site salt treatment, and molten salt recycling and reuse, and promotes the development of foreign trade from single product exports to service exports and system integration upgrades.
Innovation leadership builds core competitiveness for industrial development.
At present, there are more than 35 kinds of nitro products in the development zone, covering multiple categories such as water-soluble fertilizers, compound fertilizers, calcium ammonium nitrate for agriculture, and nitro industrial salts.
Nitrofertilizer series products have obtained a total of 246 authorized patents, led or participated in the formulation of 14 national and industry standards, and built more than 10 innovation platforms such as provincial enterprise technology centers, CNAS accredited laboratories, and doctoral innovation stations.
The market competitiveness of core products leads the country. The domestic market share of calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, and calcium ammonium nitrate reaches 87%, 80%, and 82% respectively. The export volume accounts for 85%, 72%, and 63% of the national share respectively. The influence of the industry has been significantly improved.
Featured industries will provide new support for foreign trade.
Relying on high-purity molten salt products developed from coking hydrogen-rich resources, molten salt exports will rise to 238 million yuan in 2025, accounting for 21.2% of the development zone’s total annual exports, becoming an important engine for foreign trade growth.
Shanxi Dongjin Fertilizer Co., Ltd., an enterprise in the zone, successfully passed the customs AEO advanced certification and became the first enterprise in Jiaocheng County to obtain this qualification. It enjoys convenient policies in terms of priority in handling customs procedures, reducing customs clearance costs, and reducing the frequency of supervision and inspections. It sets a benchmark for local foreign trade enterprises and effectively enhances the competitiveness of regional enterprises in international market access.
Market development and brand promotion will be carried out accurately.
The development zone organized more than 10 local companies to appear at national exhibitions such as the National Phosphate and Compound Fertilizer Exhibition and the Southwest Agricultural Materials Expo to promote efficient docking of production, supply and marketing; it successfully held the “China Jiaocheng Green Nitro Fertilizer Professional Town Industry Promotion Conference” in Nanjing, and five leading companies signed on-site cooperation to further expand the domestic and international market space of nitro fertilizer.
The open layout continues to expand, and the quality and efficiency of development are steadily improved.
Up to now, the development zone has 27 foreign trade enterprises, and its product sales network covers the whole country and is exported to more than 100 countries and regions including the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Japan.
In 2025, the total import and export volume will be 1.122 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%. The level of opening up to the outside world and the level of industrial development will be improved simultaneously, injecting strong impetus into the high-quality development of the county economy.
