DUBLIN, Ireland, May 23, 2008 -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of "China: Water Treatment Industry" to their offering.
Market overview: China continues to face severe water pollution and water scarcity problems. It generated 53.7 billion tons of wastewater in 2006; municipal wastewater and industrial wastewater account for 55% and 45% respectively. It is expected that total wastewater will continue growing due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, to reach 64 billion tons in 2010. The current wastewater treatment infrastructure is inadequate, and there will be continued construction of new facilities and upgrading of existing ones, resulting in a large demand for related technology and equipment. However, competition for projects is also fierce, both from foreign suppliers that can provide good technology, as well as from domestic suppliers that can offer competitive prices.
Regulatory environment: China has stepped up its efforts to improve the regulatory framework for modern wastewater management. A range of regulatory and economic instruments are used (e.g. user charges for water services); however, local enforcement remains weak in many regions. The 11th Five Year Plan emphasizes the concepts of constructing a water-saving society and treating water pollution. China has also stipulated relevant policies to encourage private and foreign investment wastewater treatment facilities.
Key emerging markets and best prospects: Best prospects closely follow government directions and the areas of planned investment in wastewater treatment facilities. In general, most needed equipment are those with advanced technology that domestic companies are not able to provide. In the eight emerging markets analyzed in this report - Dalian, Harbin, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Chongqing - a key trend for these eight cities is a strong focus on developing biological treatment process with nitrogen and phosphorus removal technologies. This represents good opportunities for US exporters.
All the cities are also moving towards greater use of separation, membrane and disinfection technology and equipment, and the needs for sludge treatment equipment and water reclamation technologies are expected to increase. Although different technologies have been applied in different WWTPs2, good prospects are for sequencing batch reactor (SBR) activated sludge process and biological aeration filter (BAF) process. Physical-chemical and biological processes are widely used to treat industrial wastewater in all cities, including sedimentation, filtration, anaerobic and aerobic activated sludge, etc., which also represent opportunities for US suppliers.
Market access: US companies face several barriers to direct exports. Local governments generally prefer foreign direct investment (FDI) in wastewater projects (over pure imports of equipment) as it brings technology transfer and capital investment. There is also strong competition from European and Japanese companies, which have been more aggressive in market entry, and in terms of financing support (often from their governments). However, there are still market opportunities for direct exports from US, either by using local distributors, participating in bidding for equipment procurement, or establishing a presence (i.e. Representative Office).
For more information, see: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c92715
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