(May 16, 2026) With the continuous increase in domestic environmental protection control and the precise guidance of industrial policies, the silica industry has ushered in a key node of transformation. Enterprises around the world have responded to the policy call to accelerate green production transformation and promote high-end product research and development, and the development of the industry has changed from "scale expansion" to "quality improvement", and greening and high-end have become the core theme of industry development.
It is reported that since May, the national and local levels have intensively introduced policies related to environmental protection upgrading in the chemical industry, which clearly put forward higher requirements for pollutant emissions and production process optimization in the silica industry, forcing enterprises to eliminate backward production capacity and upgrade environmental protection facilities. On May 16, the ecological environment department announced the latest environmental protection verification results, showing that the pollutant emission compliance rate of the domestic silica industry increased by 23 percentage points compared with the same period last year, and more than 80% of large-scale enterprises have completed green production transformation to realize the recycling of wastewater and waste gas.
Driven by policies, silica enterprises have accelerated the pace of green transformation. A number of companies disclosed today that they have invested special funds to upgrade the production process, using new environmentally friendly formulas and closed-loop recycling systems, which not only reduce pollutant emissions, but also achieve a 15%-20% increase in raw material utilization, effectively reducing production costs. The person in charge of a medium-sized silica enterprise said that thanks to the guidance of environmental protection policies, the company took the initiative to eliminate the backward precipitation production line and focused on the research and development of green modified silica, which increased the added value of the product by 40% compared with traditional products, and significantly enhanced its market competitiveness.
At the same time, policy dividends continue to tilt towards high-end products. In response to the problem of high dependence on domestic high-end silica imports, many places have recently introduced R&D support policies to provide financial subsidies and tax exemptions for the research and development of high-end gas-phase silica, special modified silica and other products. On May 16, data released by relevant departments showed that since the beginning of this year, domestic high-end silica R&D investment has increased by 35% year-on-year, and a number of core technologies have achieved breakthroughs.
The relevant person in charge of the industry association said in an interview that the industry dynamics on May 16 fully reflect the role of policy guidance in promoting industrial transformation. At present, the green transformation of the silica industry has entered the deep water area, environmental protection compliance has become the bottom line of enterprise survival, and high-end research and development has become the key to enterprise breakthrough. In the future, with the continuous efforts of policies, the industry will further eliminate inefficient and highly polluting production capacity, promote the concentration of resources in green and high-end enterprises, and achieve high-quality industrial development.
In addition, policy guidance has also promoted the coordinated development of the industrial chain of the silica industry. Under the requirements of environmental protection policies, downstream enterprises have gradually increased their procurement of green and high-end silica products, forming a virtuous circle of "upstream R&D upgrading and downstream demand driven". On May 16, market feedback showed that the order volume of green modified silica and low-pollution fumed silica increased by 28% year-on-year, and the trend of coordinated transformation of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain became increasingly obvious.
