On March 6, the reporter of Securities Daily learned from Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) that Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) began to lay out the field of “soil remediation”, and has undertaken two related projects, gradually extending from garden engineering to environmental treatment industry.
In recent years, the number of projects and companies in the soil remediation industry has increased sharply, and the market space in this field will reach 15.68 billion yuan in 2021; However, experts estimate that there is still a 4 trillion market to be released for cultivated land restoration, which has attracted listed companies including Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) to “divide the cake”.
In terms of provinces rich in mineral resources, the development of various minerals has made contributions to economic construction, but it has also become the “hidden injury of land”. Soil remediation plays an important role in repairing the trauma of abandoned mines and has become an alternative industry after mineral development. On the other hand, the implementation of the national soil survey in 2022 has also expanded the market development prospect for the “soil remediation” industry.
“soil remediation” concept into fertile soil
According to Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) introduction, the soil remediation projects currently being promoted by the company include: Antimony Slag remediation project (EPC) left over by history in qinghuadong reservoir basin, Funing County, Wenshan Prefecture; Consulting projects such as the investigation and risk assessment project of the current situation of soil and groundwater environment of historical industrial and mining enterprises in Mengzi city are related to the remaining “pits”. According to the statistics of Yunnan Provincial Department of natural resources, there are still 8595 open-pit abandoned phosphate mines, which need a lot of ecological restoration work, and also attracted a large number of companies to enter this field.
According to Tianyan survey data, the number of companies belonging to the category of “soil remediation” in China has increased sharply in recent five years, with 15890 companies established in 5 ~ 10 years; However, the number of “soil remediation” companies established in one to five years has surged to 69167, and the number of companies established in one year has reached 47252, exceeding the new number in previous years.
According to the Research Report of Shengang securities, during the 13th Five Year Plan period, the scale of soil remediation market increased rapidly, from 8.69 billion yuan in 2017 to 15.68 billion yuan in 2021, and the number of projects remained at about 3500 in recent two years. This is just the profit space released by the initial stage of the market. According to expert estimates, the expected growth of the soil remediation market far exceeds this value.
According to the data released by the Ministry of land and resources and the Ministry of environmental protection, the soil pollution problems in some areas such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the old industrial base in the Northeast are more prominent, while the soil heavy metals in the southwest and central and southern regions exceed the standard. Large scale mining development has contributed to economic construction for a long time, but it has also left a “Scar” everywhere for the local ecological environment, or become a virgin land for the growth of the concept of “soil remediation”.
speed up restoration under the background of soil survey
With regard to soil pollution, on February 16, the State Council issued the notice on carrying out the third national soil survey (hereinafter referred to as the “notice”), which decided to carry out the third national soil survey from 2022 and use four years to comprehensively find out the soil quality of agricultural land. The survey time is 20222025.
Pang Tianyi, an analyst at Huachuang securities, said: “the notice proposes that this census has the purpose of improving the protection and utilization level of soil resources, guarding the red line of cultivated land and optimizing the layout of agricultural production. In order to realize the rational allocation and safe utilization of land resources, more and more funds will be invested in soil remediation and create new opportunities for the development of the industry.”
In recent years, provinces and cities have gradually paid attention to soil detection and remediation. On March 1, 2018, the first coking organic contaminated soil treatment and remediation project in Yunnan Province was officially launched; By September 2021, the third phase of bidding for the soil pollution remediation scheme of the coking site has been started. For contaminated soil, remediation is a long process.
“Strive to basically complete the ecological restoration of historical open-pit mines in the province by 2025”, and the Department of natural resources of Yunnan Province has put forward corresponding goals, “The abandoned mines (mining sites) left over by history that need to be repaired and treated in the province occupy a total area of about 40000 hectares of land resources. In addition to major treatment projects supported by the state, we also need to actively attract social funds to participate in and establish a dynamic supervision platform for mine ecological restoration.”
In addition to the implementation of soil testing and treatment by soil remediation companies, heavy pollution enterprises themselves are also actively participating in the prevention and remediation of soil pollution.
Yunnan Tin Co.Ltd(000960) relevant person in charge told the reporter of Securities Daily: “As a state-controlled listed company, the company continues to strengthen the construction of ecological civilization, practice the concept of green development, attach great importance to the protection and restoration of the ecological environment, and actively fulfill the responsibility of mine ecological restoration through land reclamation, geological environment restoration and treatment, water and soil conservation and other means in accordance with the requirements of relevant laws, regulations and regulations.” Yunnan Aluminium Co.Ltd(000807) also said that the company carried out engineering reclamation first, followed by biological reclamation, and strengthened vegetation maintenance in the later stage according to the mine land reclamation plan; And Yunnan Yuntianhua Co.Ltd(600096) are also promoting the construction of “green mine”.
environmental protection enterprises enter the era of hegemony
On the one hand, heavy polluting enterprises attach importance to soil prevention and control, on the other hand, the vigorous development of soil remediation enterprises. A large number of new entrants have formed an era of “competition for hegemony” in the environmental protection industry, including the subdivided field of soil remediation.
Jingran environment, a new third board company, said: “at present, the concentration of the greening industry is low. Although the development space of the industry is huge, due to the low entry threshold of the industry, the game between existing enterprises and potential entrants makes the competition within the industry more and more intense.”
Fierce competition also leads to the homogenization of treatment technology. Industry experts told the reporter of Securities Daily: “although there are many new entrants to soil remediation, it is necessary to form an industry-leading enterprise with complete treatment technology, strong financial force and systematic management of soil in the competition, and cultivate a number of dynamic, sustainable and unique competitive small and medium-sized enterprises.”
The reporter of Securities Daily learned that in addition to the listed company Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) newly involved in the field of soil remediation, there are many companies related to this field in the listed companies of Yunnan new third board, including Jingran environment, Yinfa environmental protection, Jiayuan flowers and trees and Erhai environmental protection, which have achieved performance growth due to the growth of projects undertaken in the first half of 2021 Yunnan Yuntou Ecology And Environment Technology Co.Ltd(002200) said: “at present, the company’s main revenue comes from greening projects. The company is actively expanding projects in the field of ecological and environmental protection and continuously adjusting and optimizing the company’s business structure.”
These enterprises are still in the initial stage in the field of soil remediation. In order to make great progress, they also need to continuously improve their strategic layout and professional and technical capabilities. Enterprises without core competitiveness will be eliminated.
On the other hand, Bceg Environmental Remediation Co.Ltd(300958) , Beijing Geoenviron Engineering & Technology Inc(603588) and other listed companies that entered this field earlier have formed certain competitive advantages. In December 2021, Bceg Environmental Remediation Co.Ltd(300958) also undertook large-scale treatment projects such as comprehensive treatment of abandoned open-pit mines in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of Yunnan Province; A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are more distributed in the upstream and downstream links of leading enterprises.
