According to rough estimates of Hunan Economic and Information Technology Commission, Hunan’s new material industry achieved an output value of RMB 120 billion in the first 5 months this year. Statistical data show that Hunan’s 661 new material enterprises above the designated size achieved an output value of RMB 310 billion in 2011, entered the top echelon in China with the growth rate exceeding 30% for 4 consecutive years.

Hunan’s available reserves of tungsten, bismuth, fluorite, sea foam, aphanitic graphite ranks first in China, and the output of antimony and tungsten products as well as hard alloy,lead and zinc remains a leading position in the world. The province has a clear resource advantage in development of new materials.

Besides resource advantages, Hunan’s new material industry also has evident technological advantages and complete innovation system.The province boasts over 70 innovation platforms such as state-level and provincial engineering (technological) research center related to new materials, and has acquired 100 national and provincial scientific and technological awards in recent three years, remaining a leading position in China. Hunan’s manufacturing technologies of energy storage materials, carbon/carbon composite materials and highperformance aluminum alloy section bars as well as technologies of efficient utilization of aluminum resources have reached internationally-advanced level.

Currently, the whole province has preliminarily formed 5 advantageous industries of energy storage materials, composite materials, hard materials, new metal materials (including new rare earth materials) and new chemical materials. Among them, energy storage material has the most complete varieties, forming 3 industrial chains of li-ion battery, NiH & Ni-Zn battery and solar cell that have certain competitive edge, with industrial scale and market share ranking the first in China, output of hard alloy ranking the first domestically and the second globally, carbon/carbon composite materials and polymer-based composite materials rising rapidly and remaining a leading position in the country. The high-performance NdFeB project of Hunan Rare Earth New Energy Co., Ltd.made added value of rare earth products increase by 15-20 times, creating a market of active demand and great potential for development of the enterprise.

According to relevant plan, Hunan will base on the existing advantageous industries to emphatically forge a batch of specialized industrial bases in the field of new materials and foster a group of enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding RMB 10 billion. It aims to make the new material industry achieve an output value of RMB 500 billion by 2015 and rank amongst the first 5 in China by 2020.