FINAL RESULTS 

The consolidated turnover for the year ended 31 December 2022 amounted to HK$32,218.6 million, representing a decrease of 26.7% over that of last year. The consolidated profit attributable to owners of the Company for the year ended 31 December 2022 amounted to HK$1,935.7 million, representing a decrease of 75.1% over that of last year. Basic earnings per share for the year was HK$0.277. 

DIVIDENDS

On Friday, 12 August 2022, the Board declared an interim dividend of HK$0.12 per Share in cash for 2022 (2021: HK$0.24 per Share) which was paid on Friday, 28 October 2022. On Friday, 17 March 2023, the Board resolved to recommend the payment of final dividend of HK$0.009 per Share in cash for the year ended 31 December 2022 (2021: HK$0.28 per Share). Subject to approval by shareholders of the Company at the forthcoming annual general meeting, the final dividend will be distributed on or about Wednesday, 19 July 2023 to shareholders of the Company whose names appear on the register of members of the Company on Friday, 9 June 2023. The total distribution for the year ended 31 December 2022 will be HK$0.129 per Share (2021: HK$0.52 per Share). 

The final dividend will be payable in cash to each shareholder in HK$ by default. Shareholders may also elect to receive the final dividend in RMB. Procedures for electing to receive the final dividend in RMB are set out in the dividend section of the Report of the Directors. 

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT 

In 2022, in the face of the complex and difficult international environment, the Chinese government adhered to the general principle of seeking progress whilst maintaining stability and effectively responded to internal and external challenges. The Chinese economy stabilized and rebounded, and the overall economic and social situation was harmonious and stable. According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, the GDP of China grew by 3.0% year-onyear to RMB121.0 trillion, and national FAI (excluding rural households) increased by 5.1% year-on-year to RMB57.2 trillion.

According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, the GDPs of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong and Chongqing, where the Group has business operations, reached RMB12.9 trillion, RMB2.6 trillion, RMB5.3 trillion, RMB681.8 billion, RMB2.9 trillion, RMB2.0 trillion, RMB2.6 trillion, RMB4.9 trillion, RMB5.4 trillion, RMB8.7 trillion and RMB2.9 trillion respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 1.9%, 2.9%, 4.7%, 0.2%, 4.3%, 1.2%, 4.4%, 4.5%, 4.3%, 3.9% and 2.6% respectively. In 2022, the year-on-year changes in FAI of the aforementioned provinces were –2.6%, 0.1%, 7.5%, –4.2%, 7.5%, –5.1%, 5.9%, 6.6%, 15.0%, 6.1% and 0.7% respectively.

In 2022, the Chinese government actively promoted the implementation of a package of policies and follow-up measures to stabilize the economy, and accelerated the issuance and use of policy-based development financial instruments and local special bonds, which had significantly accelerated infrastructure investment in China. According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, national infrastructure investments (excluding the industries for production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water) increased by 9.4% year-on-year. According to the statistics published by the Ministry of Transport of China and the National Railway Administration of China, FAI on highways and waterways in China from January to November in 2022 amounted to approximately RMB2.8 trillion in total, representing an increase of 9.2% year-on-year. In 2022, FAI on railways amounted to approximately RMB710.9 billion, representing a decrease of 5.1% year-on-year, which was sharper than the yearon-year decrease of 4.6% in the first half of the year.

During the year, whilst adhering to the position that “residential properties are not for speculation”, the Chinese government implemented city-specific policies to support demand for basic housing needs and housing to improve living conditions, maintain reasonable and appropriate real estate financing and protect the legitimate rights and interests of housing consumers in order to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, the floor space of commodity housing sold in China decreased by 24.3% year-on-year to 1,360 million m2 and the sales amount decreased by 26.7% year-on-year to RMB13.3 trillion. Real estate investment in China reached RMB13.3 trillion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 10.0%. Among which, the floor space of houses newly started construction decreased by 39.4% year-on-year to 1,210 million m2 while the floor space of houses completed decreased by 15.0% year-on-year to 860 million m2 . As of the end of 2022, the floor space under construction by the real estate developers nationwide reached 9,050 million m2 , representing a year-on-year decrease of 7.2%.

The Chinese government systematically promoted urban construction and expedited the high-quality development of urbanization. According to the statistics published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, in 2022, 52,500 old communities and 8.76 million households nationwide newly started renovations, which had achieved the annual target of renovating 51,000 old communities. In June 2022, the Chinese government issued the “Implementation Plan for New-type Urbanization during the ‘Fourteenth Five-Year’”, which proposed to promote urbanization with counties as important carriers, promote the upgrade of municipal public facilities, promote urban renewal and upgrade in an orderly manner and focus on promotion of urban renewal and upgrade in old urban districts with transformation of “three districts and one village” as the main theme. As of the end of 2022, China’s urbanization rate of permanent residence was 65.22%, representing an increase of 0.50 percentage points over the end of 2021.

THE INDUSTRY

According to the statistics published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, the total cement production in China amounted to approximately 2,120.0 million tons, representing a year-on-year decrease of 10.8%. During the year, cement production in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shanxi and Hunan were approximately 150.0 million tons, 100.0 million tons, 96.6 million tons, 16.3 million tons, 96.5 million tons, 64.3 million tons, 48.0 million tons and 99.4 million tons respectively, representing year-on-year changes of approximately –11.4%, –8.6%, –4.4%, –16.1%, –16.6%, –31.3%, –15.5% and –6.3% respectively. 

During the year, according to the statistics of the China Cement Association, there were 19 new clinker production lines nationwide with new annual clinker production capacity of approximately 34.2 million tons. Among which, in our major operating regions, there were 8 new clinker production lines in Guangxi with new annual clinker production capacity of approximately 13.4 million tons, 2 new clinker production lines in Yunnan with new annual clinker production capacity of approximately 3.1 million tons and 2 new clinker production lines in Hunan with new annual clinker capacity of approximately 4.0 million tons. 

Regarding policies for the industry, the Chinese government had issued a series of policies and measures to actively promote work in energy saving, carbon reduction and pollution reduction, improve and strictly enforce capacity replacement policies, promote regular off-peak production and advance rationalization of industrial structure to lay the foundation for achieving the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and promote the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development. In addition, the Chinese government attaches great importance to production safety and occupational health and advances the highquality and sustainable development of the building materials industry.

Regarding energy saving and emissions reduction, the Chinese government actively implemented energy-saving and low-carbon actions, and promoted the research and development of new technologies such as high-efficiency, low-carbon and energy-saving cement. During the year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, the National Development and Reform Commission of China and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Industrial Sector”, with the target for the “Fourteenth Five-Year” period to make positive progress in the optimization of the industrial structure and energy structure, greatly improve the utilization efficiency of energy and resources, build a batch of green factories and green industrial parks, research, develop, demonstrate and promote a batch of low-carbon, zerocarbon and negative carbon technological processes and equipment products with significant emission reduction effects, which lay a solid foundation for carbon peaking in the industrial sector. In November 2022, the Chinese government issued the “Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Building Materials Industry”, which specified the main goals of carbon peaking in the cement industry. During the “Fourteenth Five-Year” period, significant progress should be made in the adjustment of industrial structure, energy-saving and low-carbon technologies should be continuously promoted in the industry, unit energy consumption and carbon emission intensity of key products should be continuously reduced and comprehensive energy consumption level of cement clinker per unit product should be reduced by over 3%. In addition, the Chinese government proposed to promote the construction of national carbon emission trading market in a steady and orderly manner and gradually expand the industry coverage of national carbon market, while further enhancing trading entities, trading product types and trading methods. As of the end of 2022, the cumulative trading volume of emission quotas on the national carbon market was 230 million tons and the cumulative trading turnover was RMB10,480 million. Overall operation of the market was stable and orderly.

In terms of green development, thoroughly fighting the battle of pollution prevention and control is an important measure in the construction of a good ecological environment. In 2022, China’s ecological and environmental departments at all levels adhered to the same direction with unabated effort, coordinated joint governance and thoroughly advanced pollution prevention and control with the support of technology to lay a solid foundation for achieving the “Dream of a Beautiful China”. In June 2022, the Chinese government issued the “Action Plan for Synergizing the Reduction of Pollution and Carbon Emissions”, which had pushed forward pollution prevention and control to a new stage of joint governance. The plan adheres to a system concept, promotes the establishment of a multi-faceted and multi-field synergistic innovation model for pollution reduction and carbon reduction and advances pollution prevention and control to a new level.

In terms of industrial structure, the Chinese government requires strict implementation of the capacity replacement policy for the cement and flat glass industries and intensifies efforts to control excessive capacity. In 2022, due to the impact of sluggish downstream demand and high production costs, investments and construction of certain cement and clinker lines scheduled to be built did not proceed as planned and the replacement of clinker production capacity in the industry fell sharply, where annual replacement of clinker production capacity was approximately 4.5 million tons, which was approximately 90% lower than that of year.

In terms of production safety, the Chinese government attaches great importance to production safety. 2022 is the consolidation and enhancement stage of the three-year action for special rectification of national production safety. The National Mine Safety Administration of China issued multiple important notices on noncoal mines. In February, the “Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Production Safety Work in Non-coal Mines” was issued, which proposed stricter and clearer requirements for production safety work in non-coal mines. In April, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council of China issued the “‘Fourteenth Five-Year’ National Production Safety Plan”, which required strict implementation of corporate responsibility for production safety, continuous promotion of corporate production safety standardization, strict review on design of safety facilities at non-coal mine construction projects and corporate license management of production safety, and strengthened supervision and inspection of the completion acceptance activities and acceptance results of safety facilities. In July, the “‘Fourteenth Five-Year’ Mine Production Safety Plan” was issued, which proposed clear requirements for strengthening the construction of mine safety standards, implementing the responsibilities of subject of corporate safety and strengthening the construction of mine automation and intelligentization. 

In terms of aggregates, the Chinese government continued to strengthen the management of sand excavation in river courses to enhance the competitiveness of manufactured sand. In February 2022, the Ministry of Water Resources of China issued the “2022 Notice of Key Points on Rivers and Lakes Management”, which proposed to strengthen the management of sand excavation in river courses and supervised the implementation of direct management responsibilities of sand excavation management by river basin management agencies. Meanwhile, the management of sand excavation permits should be reinforced, the supervision on sand excavation sites should be strengthened, and the management order system for excavation and transportation should be implemented to discover, strictly investigate and punish illegal sand excavation in a timely manner.

In terms of prefabricated construction, promotion of low-carbon production and living is required in China. In May 2022, the Chinese government issued the “Opinions on Promoting Urbanization with Counties as Important Carriers”, which proposed to vigorously develop green construction and promote prefabricated construction, energy-saving doors and windows, green building materials and green lighting in order to fully roll out green construction. In July, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China and the National Development and Reform Commission of China issued the “Notice on Issuing the Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Scope of Urban and Rural Construction”, which proposed to promote green and lowcarbon construction and vigorously develop prefabricated construction such that, by 2030, prefabricated buildings would account for 40% of newly constructed buildings in cities and towns for the year.

TRANSFORMATION AND INNOVATION

In response to the Group’s “Fourteenth Five-Year” strategic development plan, during 2021, the Group reorganized the business into four business segments: basic building materials, structural building materials, functional building materials and new materials. The basic building materials business mainly includes cement and aggregates. The structural building materials business mainly includes concrete and prefabricated construction. The functional building materials business mainly includes engineered stone, tile adhesive and white cement. The new materials business currently mainly explores the development opportunities of new materials such as silicon-based, calcium-based and basalt materials. Since 2022, the Group had actively seized opportunities, achieved breakthroughs in these four business segments, and newly entered Hunan, Hubei, Shandong and other regions, which laid the foundation for achieving the Group’s “Fourteenth Five-Year” strategic goals.

In terms of cement business, the Group had optimized the layout of its cement business and consolidated its market competitiveness in South China through acquiring 51% equity interests of Hunan Liangtian Cement Co., Ltd., 85% equity interests of Zhaoqing Jingang Cement Co., Ltd. and 13.83% equity of Fengqing County Xiqian Cement Co., Ltd., as well as selling 72% equity interests and loans of Shanxi China Resources Fulong Cement Limited.

In terms of aggregates, during the year, the Group achieved 100% controlling shareholding of the aggregates project in Deqing, Guangdong. The Group newly obtained the aggregates projects in Tianyang Napo, Guigang Gangnan, Guigang Qintang and Hezhou Fuchuan of Guangxi, Wuping of Fujian, Chongyang of Hubei and Wushan of Chongqing. Through associates, the Group newly obtained aggregates projects in Nanping of Fujian and Yimen of Yunnan. In addition, the aggregates capacity expansion projects in Guigang and Fuchuan of Guangxi as well as the aggregates project in Wuping of Fujian, Shangsi, Nanning and Wuxuan of Guangxi commenced trial production respectively. As of the end of 2022, the scale of annual production capacity of aggregates of the Group that had commenced operation or trial production had greatly increased.

In terms of structural building materials, the Group actively seized market opportunities for green building materials. The first phase of the Group’s production lines for the autoclaved aerated lightweight concrete blocks and panels project in Fengkai, Guangdong, commenced construction in April 2022 and is expected to commence trial production in the first half of 2023. The first phase of the project has a design annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 m3 of panels and a design annual production capacity of approximately 200,000 m3 of blocks. In May 2022, the Group won the bid for a plot of land with an area of approximately 130,000 m2 in Xinzhu Town, Ding’an County, Hainan for prefabricated construction, which is planned to build three production lines for autoclaved aerated lightweight concrete blocks and panels, with total design annual production capacities of approximately 600,000 m3 of panels and approximately 300,000 m3 of blocks. This will form synergetic effect with local production lines of precast concrete components of the Group. As of the end of December 2022, the Group had a total of 6 projects of precast concrete components. Upon completion of construction of all projects, the design annual production capacity of precast concrete components is expected to reach approximately 1.4 million m3 .

In terms of functional building materials, the Group rapidly increased the production capacity of engineered stone through mergers and acquisitions, which enabled the Group to become a leading enterprise in the engineered stone industry and achieve high-quality and sustainable development. In July 2022, the Group acquired 67% equity interests of each of Shandong Runhe New Material Co., Ltd., Runhe (Lanling) New Material Co., Ltd. and Runhe (Feixian) New Material Co., Ltd. These engineered stone companies own a total of 107 production lines for compression molding of engineered stone and 27 grinding and polishing lines of engineered stone in operation with total planned annual production capacity of 15.0 million m2 in Linyi City, Shandong, which marks the opening of a new chapter for the Group in Shandong. After all projects under construction have commenced operation, the Group’s annual production capacity of engineered stone will reach 26.1 million m2 . 

In terms of corporate social responsibility, the Group plans for its development from the lofty perspective of harmonious coexistence between human and nature, takes ecology, environmental protection, safety and intensive utilization of resources as the main theme of work, continues to improve the construction of environmental management system, deepens energy saving and emission reduction, practices the construction of ecological civilization, and strictly abides by the red line of ecological protection. We actively respond to climate change, lead the green and low-carbon development of the industry, and comprehensively enhances ecological vitality for building a beautiful China. 

During the year, the Group creatively proposed the “3C” theory of energy saving and carbon reduction, i.e. low carbon at the source, carbon reduction in the process and decarbonization at the end, which contributed our solution proposal to the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. At the same time, in cooperation with tertiary institutions and the China Building Materials Academy, the Group had intensively researched and developed a variety of new cement grinding aid products, which can reduce the amount of clinker used while enhancing the utilization rate of low-grade industrial waste, thereby reducing the consumption of raw material resources and energy consumption of coal and electricity required for clinker production to promote the coordinated reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. The project won the First Prize in the 2022 Guangxi Science and Technology Progress Award.

In 2022, the Group’s unfailing efforts in technological innovation and corporate social responsibility work were recognized by the industry and the society. These include: 

• In May, the “Research, Development and Application of New-Type High-Efficiency Cement Grinding Aids” project submitted by China Resources Cement Technology Research and Development (Guangxi) Co., Ltd. as the leading unit and the “Key Technology and its Application of High-Quality Cementitious Materials Made of Industrial Waste” project jointly submitted together with seven units including Guilin University of Technology and Wuhan University of Technology in China were both honoured with the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award in the 2021 “Guangxi Science and Technology Award” by the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; 

• In June, the “Development and Application of the Environmentally Friendly Admixtures Based on Monoform Center of Gravity Design” project jointly submitted by China Resources Cement Technology Research and Development (Guangxi) Co., Ltd., Guangxi China Resources Hongshuihe Cement Co., Ltd. and China Resources Cement (Fuchuan) Limited was honoured with the Third Prize of the Award for Technological Invention in the “Concrete Science and Technology Award” by the China Concrete and Cementbased Products Association; 

• In September, the Company was honoured with the Best ESG Award at the 2022 Sina Finance Overseas Investment Summit Forum; 

• In September, the Company was honoured with the National Second Prize of the Smart Industry Thematic Track in the 5G Application Competition of the Fifth “Blooming Cup”; 

• In November, the “Cement Kiln Flue Gas Carbon Capture New Process Re-Engineering and Application Demonstration” project was successfully included in the project list of “Open Competition for the Best Candidate” as the second batch of major scientific and technological breakthroughs in the national building materials industry;

• In December, China Resources Cement (Tianyang) Limited was successfully selected as 2022 Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factory by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China; 

• In December, the “Project Series of Carbon Reduction and Consumption Reduction for Calcium Carbide Slag and Yellow Phosphorus Slag Compound Ingredients” of China Resources Cement (Jinsha) Limited was honoured with the Third Prize in the 2022 Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Actionable Model Cases Selection for by the China Business Executives Academy, Dalian of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China.

STRATEGIES AND PROSPECT 

The Chinese government proposed that the economic work in 2023 shall prioritize stability while pursuing progress, continue to implement proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, increase the effort of macro-economic policy adjustments, reinforce coordination and cooperation of various types of policies, and form synergy for the joint promotion of high-quality development. 

The Chinese government has been accelerating the construction of a world leader in transport. In October 2022, the Ministry of Transport of China, the National Railway Administration of China, the Civil Aviation Administration of China and the State Post Bureau of China jointly issued the “Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of the Main Skeleton of the Comprehensive National Transport Network”. It clearly proposed that, by 2025, the utilization rate of the main skeleton capacity should be significantly raised and the physical network mileage should reach approximately 260,000 kilometers. By 2030, construction of the main skeleton should be basically completed and the physical network mileage should reach approximately 280,000 kilometers. By 2035, construction of the main skeleton should be fully completed and lay a solid foundation for basically building a world leader in transport.

In terms of real estate, Chinese government persists in maintaining the position that “residential properties are not for speculation” and supports local governments to improve real estate policies based on local conditions in order to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. In November 2022, the People’s Bank of China and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued the “Notice on the Present Financial Support for the Steady and Healthy Development of the Real Estate Market”, which comprehensively implemented the long-term mechanism for real estate and executed city-specific policies to support demand for basic housing needs and housing to improve living conditions, maintain reasonable and appropriate real estate financing and protect the legitimate rights and interests of housing consumers in order to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. 

The Chinese government comprehensively promotes rural revitalization and enhances the quality of new-type urbanization construction. The “Action Execution Plan for Rural Construction” issued in May stated that rural construction is an important mission for implementing strategy for rural revitalization and is also the important content of national modernized construction. The plan proposed to build liveable beautiful villages through the implementation of projects for clear rural roads, construction projects for rural clean energy, projects for upgrading village-level integrated service facilities and projects for improving quality and safety of rural housing. It is targeted that, by 2025, rural construction will achieve substantive progress, the living environment in rural areas will continue to improve, positive progress will be made in covering more villages and extending to more households with respect to rural public infrastructure and the level of basic public services in rural areas will steadily increase, all of which will effectively stimulate demand for building materials such as cement. 

In terms of coordinated regional development strategy, the Chinese government continues to expedite infrastructure connectivity in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. According to the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Inter-city) Railway Link Development Plan”, the total operational length of railways in operation and under construction in the Greater Bay Area is targeted to reach 4,700 km by 2025 and 5,700 km by 2035. By the end of 2021, the operational length of railways had exceeded 2,300 km. The gradual advancement of regional development and construction such as the Greater Bay Area will support the regional demand for the building materials industry in the medium to long term.

In addition, the “Chief Executive’s 2022 Policy Address” issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in October 2022 highlighted that the Northern Metropolis is the foothold for Hong Kong’s strategic development base as well as the new engine for Hong Kong to scale new heights. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will take forward the development of the Northern Metropolis in full steam. It is expected that major projects will start to roll out in 2025, which will drive the regional demand for the building materials industry in the medium to long term. 

Looking ahead, the Group will thoroughly implement the spirit of the “20th National Congress”, grasp the new development stage, thoroughly implement the new development philosophy and build a new development paradigm. We will continue to reinforce the three core strengths of “leading market position in the region, innovation-driven development, lowest total costs”. We will strengthen, optimize and expand the basic building materials and functional building materials businesses, steadily develop the structural building materials business, and incubate and cultivate the new materials business. In 2023, the Group will focus on the management theme of “systematic reshaping and high-quality development”, conduct mid-term strategic review, strengthen strategic research, practice the development model of “resources + research and development + industry”, focus on the “4+1” business portfolio (cement, aggregates, concrete, engineered stone and new materials businesses), optimize resource allocation, invest precisely and effectively, vigorously enhance the industry status in the markets of existing businesses, accelerate intelligent, digital and green transformation and focus on promoting transformation of the new materials business. We will insist on benchmark against international first-class standards, continuously improve operational efficiency and quality, and enhance the management standards of environmental protection, safety, and health to accelerate the achievement of carbon peaking goal. In addition, the Group will proactively seize the regional development opportunities in China including the Greater Bay Area, accelerate the pace of transformation and innovation, and fulfil corporate social responsibility to advance the green and sustainable development of the cement industry in China.

APPRECIATION 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Directors, the management team and all employees for their contributions and hard work, which had contributed to the high-quality development of the Group’s business. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to express our gratitude to shareholders, customers, suppliers, business partners and other stakeholders for their persistent trust and unfailing support to the Group.

JI Youhong 

Chairman 

Hong Kong, 17 March 2023

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES 

Cement and concrete are the main and basic building materials for infrastructure projects, property construction and rural development. Cement consumption is highly correlated to economic development and FAI. As cement and concrete are relatively heavyweight building materials, the key to success of a producer’s business is highly dependent on its core competitive advantage within the regional market. The performance of the Group’s business operation is therefore subject to certain major factors such as the business environment of the regions where the Group has business operation, which significantly affects the selling prices of the cement and concrete products. Besides, coal cost represents one of the significant causes for volatility in the cost of cement production. Accordingly, the substantial fluctuation of coal price poses one of the principal potential risks and uncertainties affecting the performance of the Group and the cement industry at large. As the Chinese government continuously poses stricter requirements for energy saving and carbon emissions reduction, dual control of energy consumption, production safety and occupational health, the Group’s competitiveness in these aspects is the key to its sustainable development. 

POTENTIAL DISPOSAL 

As announced by the Company on 21 October 2022, China Resources Cement Investments Limited, the Company’s indirect wholly owned subsidiary, intended to dispose of its 72% equity interests of and its shareholders’ loans to China Resources Cement (Changzhi) Limited, as well as its 72% equity interests of China Resources Concrete (Lucheng) Limited through public tender. As the auction failed, on 12 December 2022, the Group had informed the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange to rescind the public tender of the abovementioned disposal. Before achieving the commercial objective of disposal of the two subsidiaries, the Company will continuously optimize the operational management and enhance the operational efficiency and effectiveness. Our strategic development plan will be adjusted according to the market conditions in the future if appropriate.

PRODUCTION CAPACITY 

Changes to Production Plants 

In terms of clinker and cement, in January 2022, the Group acquired 51% equity interests of Hunan Liangtian Cement Co., Ltd., which increased the annual production capacity of clinker by approximately 1.6 million tons and the annual capacity of cement by approximately 2.0 million tons. Currently, technological upgrade of production lines is being rolled out, and is expected to complete in August 2023. Upon completion of the upgrade, the annual production capacity of clinker will remain unchanged, while the annual production capacity of cement will be approximately 2.1 million tons. In March 2022, the Group sold 72% equity interests and loans of Shanxi China Resources Fulong Cement Limited to Tangshan Jidong Cement Co., Ltd. through tendering for a total consideration (excluding interests) of RMB1,607,251,200 (equivalent to approximately HK$1,981,253,000), which reduced the annual production capacity of cement by approximately 4.0 million tons. 

In July 2022, the Group acquired 85% equity interests of Zhaoqing Jingang Cement Co., Ltd., which increased the annual production capacity of clinker by approximately 800,000 tons and the annual production capacity of cement by approximately 1.5 million tons. 

In September 2022, China Resources Cement (Wuxuan) Limited, the Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, commenced operation of its second cement production line project, which increased the annual production capacity of clinker by approximately 1.4 million tons and the annual production capacity of cement by approximately 2.0 million tons. 

In November 2022, China Resources Cement (Fengkai) Limited, the Group’s wholly owned subsidiary, commenced operation of its #9 and #10 cement grinding projects, which increased the annual production capacity of cement by approximately 3.4 million tons. 

In terms of concrete, during the year, the Group completed the upgrade for production capacity of 2 concrete batching plants, leased 2 concrete batching plants from third parties, halted production of 4 concrete batching plants and closed 2 concrete batching plants. The total annual production capacities of concrete increased by approximately 1.2 million m3 as compared with the end of 2021.

Capacity Utilization 

The utilization rates of the Group’s cement, clinker and concrete production lines in 2022 were 81.6%, 90.5% and 29.3% as compared with 93.6%, 100.6% and 40.9% respectively for 2021.

COST MANAGEMENT

Operational Management In 2022, the Group centred operational management on “steady growth” and “cost reduction”, continued to improve the management system for energy saving and carbon reduction and benchmarked against world-class enterprises and industry benchmarks to improve the level of operational management. During the year, the Group separated and implemented the indicators and targets of the action plan for energy saving and carbon reduction to production plants. Taking the indicator assessment system as the initial point and starting from the two key technical routes of technical transformation and upgrade of the physical system and chemical replacement of raw fuels, the Group promoted energy saving and carbon reduction projects at cement production plants and actively exchanged the experiences of benchmark production plants to create a strong culture of “energy saving and carbon reduction” to promote the improvement of energy efficiency levels. 

During the year, the Group continued to promote the improvement and upgrade of grate coolers in cement and clinker production lines and the optimization of highly-effective pre-decomposition systems, promoted the application of energy-saving and highlyeffective fans and air compressors, comprehensively promoted the application of grinding aids for raw materials and coal-saving agents, directed production plants to launch tests on solid waste, guided multi-faceted exploration on potential application of alternative raw materials and research and development of applications of alternative fuel systems, and actively promoted photovoltaic power generation projects, thereby improving production efficiency, energy saving and carbon reduction. Meanwhile, the project for recycled use of wastewater was rolled out at cement production plants to reduce water consumption by means of recycling and re-use.

In terms of intelligent automation, the Group continued to promote the use of automatic bagging machines and automatic loading machines and actively promoted the application of fully electric mining trucks, unmanned driving and digitalization in mines to advance the construction of green mines. 

In terms of treatment and management of mines, limestone mine slopes were treated and managed through measures such as cleaning pumice stones, setting up passive safety nets and hanging nets for support, which had strengthened the rock mass stability of slopes and improved the safety coefficient of mine slopes. 

In terms of project management, the Group strengthened the technical control on construction process, reinforced the process management and delicacy management for projects, and promoted digitalization and intelligentization for project construction to improve production safety and operational efficiency. In addition, the Group revised the management system for project construction, improved the evaluation system for management, promoted the compliant operation of projects, standardized technical standards for aggregates and accelerated the construction progress of projects such as aggregates to facilitate the Group’s future business development.

Procurement Management 

In 2022, the overall market price of coal was at a high level. During the year, the Group purchased a total of approximately 8.6 million tons of coal (approximately 9.5 million tons in 2021), among which, approximately 90%, 10% and 0% were sourced from northern China, neighbouring areas of our production plants and overseas respectively (80%, 19% and 1% in 2021). The proportion of direct procurement from coal producers was approximately 80% (82% in 2021). 

In the future, the Group will continuously strengthen the strategic cooperation with large-scale domestic coal suppliers, expand new procurement channels, introduce strategic suppliers, and continue to pay attention to the national policy on coal import to establish procurement channels for coal imports in a timely manner. In addition, the Group will also analyze market trends through multiple channels and dynamically manage inventory to widen our advantages of procurement cost.

Logistics Management 

In 2022, under the influence of multiple factors such as the sluggish transportation market and standardization of truck loads, the Group adopted a series of measures to achieve a downward trend in the overall logistics cost. In terms of shipping, on the basis of the internal unified tendering for shipping along the Xijiang River, the Group reduced shipping costs throughout the whole process through measures such as adjusting the tendering modes for materials entering and leaving Hainan islands to multi-stage tendering, introducing units to compete for the lightering business, and refining the management of transportation process. In terms of truck transportation, the Group’s tendering freight costs were slightly reduced by means of centralized and unified bidding for key projects and internal customers as well as expansion of the scope of transportation resources. 

In 2022, the annual shipping capacity of the Group along the Xijiang River was approximately 39.1 million tons, which secured stable and continuous logistics capabilities for the Group’s business operation. The Group continuously optimized the layout of its silo terminals and cooperation methods to build compliant and environmentally friendly silo terminals. During the year, the Group controlled the operations of 36 silo terminals with total annual capacity of approximately 35.3 million tons, which are mainly located in the Pearl River Delta Region of Guangdong. This consolidates the Group’s leading market position in Southern China.

SALES AND MARKETING 

Product Promotion 

In 2022, the Group continued to intensify the marketing promotion of products such as “Wang Pai Gong Jiang” high-end renovation cement, cement for nuclear power stations and Portland cement for roads. Among which, the Group supplied cement for nuclear power stations to 5 nuclear power projects in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong. The Group had expanded cement for railway construction projects and low-heat low-alkali cement in Yunnan, which are mainly used in railway and water conservation projects. This will help to leverage our differentiated competitive advantages. During the year, the Group increased the supply of pre-stressed nuclear power cement for Phase 2 of the nuclear power stations in Hainan. In addition, the Group promoted Portland cement for roads as the key recommended cement for projects such as airport and road construction in Fujian, and jointly advanced the “Project for World Leader in Transport” with the Fuzhou University, China and the Fujian Highway Administration Bureau Business Development Centre of Fujian Province, with trial phases commenced in Langqi of Fuzhou and Douwei of Hui’an and had entered the phase of academic acceptance. 

Brand Building 

The Group continued to deepen the construction of the Runfeng brand. In combination with the “Fourteenth Five-Year” brand strategy, the Group expanded the application of “Runfeng” to business areas such as concrete, aggregates and prefabricated construction to create a unified brand for the industry chain. On 28 June, the Group held the sixth anniversary celebration for the Runfeng brand and launched the new advertising slogan of “Quality Makes Beauty”, which was widely disseminated on social media and industry media. During the year, the Group deepened the brand’s “quality” positioning and tell good stories of the brand by measures such as improving the brand building system, continuously enhancing product services to meet customers’ needs and steadily increasing brand exposure rate to end users.

In order to enhance the brand image of the Group’s products for functional building materials, the Group adopted “Runpin” as the unified brand for functional building materials, and the “Runpin” WeChat public account went live in March. In June, the “Runpin” brand was officially launched and the “Runpin Luxury” showroom was unveiled and commenced operation. During the year, the “Runpin” brand was vigorously promoted through measures such as vigorously expanding end-user channels, improving product categories, constructing the brand building system, releasing brand promotional videos and product manuals, appearing at the Xiamen International Stone Fair and operating we-media to gradually construct the brand building system and preliminarily establish the “Runpin” reputation in the industry.

TRANSFORMATION AND INNOVATION 

New Business Development

In 2022, the Group actively seized development opportunities of new businesses, fully utilized the synergistic advantages between cement, concrete and aggregates, achieved rapid development in the aggregates and engineered stone businesses and initial success in the optimization of business structures. The proportion of assets and revenue of new businesses continuously increased. 

Aggregates 

In 2022, the Group continued to actively acquire high-quality aggregates mine resources and accelerated construction and commissioning of aggregates projects. During the year, the Group obtained control on a total of 6 new mine resources in Guangxi, Hubei and Chongqing through bidding, acquisitions and equity participation. 

As of the end of 2022, based on its own existing cement mines, the Group’s annual production capacity of aggregates through its subsidiaries (inclusive of trial production) was approximately 48.4 million tons, and the total annual production capacities of aggregates attributable to the Group according to our equity interests of the associates located in Yunnan and Fujian were approximately 3.1 million tons. In addition to the newly obtained aggregates projects, upon completion of construction of all projects, the annual production capacity of aggregates in operation or under construction controlled by the Group through its subsidiaries is expected to reach 137.1 million tons and the annual production capacity of aggregates in operation or under construction attributable to the Group according to our equity interests of associates and joint ventures will reach approximately 13.6 million tons.

以下為新取得骨料項目（註）相關資料：  Relevant information of the newly obtained aggregates projects (note) is outlined below:

Prefabricated Construction

The Group promoted the prefabricated construction business in an orderly manner according to the Chinese government policies and market conditions.

In terms of the precast concrete components business, in November 2022, the precast concrete components project at Intelligent Building Jiangmen, Guangdong, commenced trial production, with annual production capacity of approximately 50,000 m3.

As of the end of December 2022, the Group had a total of 6 projects of precast concrete components. Upon completion of construction of all projects, the design annual production capacity  of precast concrete components is expected to reach approximately 1.4 million m3.

以下為混凝土預製構件項目相關資料：    Relevant information of the precast concrete components projects is outlined below:

In addition, the Chinese government actively promotes green building materials and supports energy saving and consumption reduction in the construction industry and innovation in building methods. The first phase of the Group’s production lines for the autoclaved aerated lightweight concrete blocks and panels project in Fengkai, Guangdong, commenced construction in April 2022 and is expected to commence trial production in the first half of 2023. The first phase of the project has a design annual production capacity of approximately 400,000 m3 of panels and a design annual production capacity of approximately 200,000 m3 of blocks. In May, the Group won the bid for a plot of land with an area of approximately 130,000 m2 in Xinzhu Town, Ding’an County, Hainan for prefabricated construction, which is planned to build three production lines for autoclaved aerated lightweight concrete blocks and panels, each with design annual production capacities of approximately 200,000 m3 of panels and approximately 100,000 m3 of blocks. This is currently under planning. 

Functional Building Materials 

In 2022, the Group grasped the promising development prospects of engineered stone and further expanded its strategic layout. 

DongGuan Universal Classical Material Ltd. owns one production line of inorganic engineered stone with a planned annual production capacity of approximately 600,000 m2 in Dongguan, Guangdong. On this basis, it expanded one production line of inorganic engineered stone with a planned annual production capacity of approximately 1.5 million m2 . In addition, the Group built two production lines of inorganic engineered stone in Laibin, Guangxi, with a planned total capacity of approximately 3.0 million m2 . The above projects had commenced trial production in October and December 2022 respectively.

In addition, the Group rapidly increased the production capacity of engineered stone through mergers and acquisitions, which enabled the Group to become a leading enterprise in the engineered stone industry and achieve high-quality and sustainable development. In March, the Group acquired 75% equity interests of Guangdong Borrego New Material Technology Co., Ltd. The company has four production lines of engineered stones in operation in Lianzhou, Guangdong, with total planned annual production capacities of approximately 6.0 million m2 . In July, the Group acquired 67% equity interests of each of Shandong Runhe New Material Co., Ltd., Runhe (Lanling) New Material Co., Ltd. and Runhe (Feixian) New Material Co., Ltd. These engineered stone companies own a total of 107 production lines for compression molding of engineered stone and 27 grinding and polishing lines of engineered stone in operation with total planned annual production capacity of approximately 15.0 million m2 in Linyi City, Shandong, which marks the opening of a new chapter for the Group in Shandong. After all projects under construction have commenced operation, the Group’s annual production capacity of engineered stone will reach 26.1 million m2 . 

On the other hand, the Group actively sought upstream resources for engineered stone to form a synergistic effect with the existing engineered stone business. In July, the Group acquired 85% equity interests of Hezhou Xubao Mining Investment Co., Ltd. through bidding for a consideration of RMB893,510,140 (equivalent to approximately HK$1,044,809,000). The company owns a marble quarry for facing under construction in Hezhou City, Guangxi, with resource reserve of approximately 46.7 million m3 and planned annual production capacity of approximately 1.14 million m3 . It is expected to commence operation in 2024. In addition, the company owns a plot of industrial land with an area of approximately 120,000 m2 in Pinggui District, Hezhou City, Guangxi, which is currently under planning. This transaction has enabled the Group to take control of stone resources and laid a foundation for the Group’s future development in the calcium carbonate industry.

New Materials

In terms of the new materials business, with silicon-based new materials as the breakthrough point for strategic transformation, the Group will extend the calcium-based industry chain based on its existing high-quality mine resources, incubate and cultivate the basalt fiber new materials business in order to actively promote the implementation of projects in the new materials industry. Among which, for the Guigang calcium-based project, the mining rights with resource reserve of approximately 110.0 million tons had been successfully obtained and 100,000 tons of standard coal energy consumption replacement was acquired. Currently, transfer of land from the government for project construction use is in progress. Other projects are being advanced in an orderly manner as planned. 

Digital Transformation 

The Group continued to promote the construction of digitalization and intelligentization, and was committed to creating benchmark for intelligent manufacturing and promoting the intelligent upgrade of factories and the comprehensive improvement of operations management. 

In terms of intelligent factories, the Group built a benchmark for whole-process intelligent factories at the cement production plant in Tianyang District of Guangxi, which was successfully selected as the excellent unit for the 2022 Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factories by four ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and won a total of ten honours from governments at national, autonomous regional and other levels. The production plant achieved full coverage of intelligent video surveillance in the factory through 5G technology to ensure production safety. We deepened application of the intelligent shipping system in digital mines to optimize mining and transportation resources and improve production efficiency. We connected the online monitoring system to the remote diagnosis system platform to provide 7*24-hour oversight to achieve early warning and fault prediction. In addition, the Group’s cement production plant in Fengkai County of Guangdong is constructing a whole-process intelligent factory based on the international standards of “lighthouse factory”.

The Group independently researched and developed an advanced whole-process control system and applied big data technology to build an advanced control model to achieve intelligent control of kilns, mills and residual heat power generation, which commenced operation at 8 cement production plants located in Fengkai, Luoding, Hepu, Longyan and Yanshi during the year. 

During the year, the quality management system independently researched and developed by the Group had commenced operation at 15 cement production plants located in Luoding, Hongshuihe, Yangchun and Luchuan, which had achieved wholeprocess standardization and informationized quality control from entry into factory and process control of raw fuel materials to products leaving the factory. The system can combine online analysis and intelligent laboratories to achieve real-time detection, automatic collection, automatic batching and automatic statistics. In addition, during the year, the online monitoring data of the Group’s 18 cement production plants located in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou were connected to the remote diagnosis system to achieve early warning and prediction of latent hazards. With the online equipment monitoring system as the foundation, the remote diagnosis system as the guarantee and the equipment management system as the core, the Group had constructed the first self-built “trinity” intelligent equipment operation and maintenance platform in the industry, which greatly improved the reliability of equipment operations and reduced the consumption of equipment spare parts.

The Group actively promotes the application of 5G technology and steadily advanced the major special construction for integration, innovation and application of the “5G+ Industrial Internet”. Based on the multi-faceted development needs of the building materials industry, the Group created a vertical industry platform for building materials cum “Runfeng Smart” Industrial Internet platform, which formed solutions for 18 5G applications in 8 major scenarios, which have been applied to more than 30 production plants to achieve cross-factory interconnection and data collaboration and contributed to practical industry experience for the promotion of the national 5G Industrial Internet. The project won the National Second Prize of the Smart Industry Thematic Track in the 5G Application Competition of the Fifth “Blooming Cup”. The “Project for Industrial Equipment Intelligent Maintenance Based on ‘Mobile Internet of Things + Artificial Intelligence’” and the “Integrated Large-Scale Application Project for 5G Internet of Things Low-Carbon Cloud-Networked Intelligent Manufacturing” were successfully selected into the 2022 Model Case Database of Applications of Mobile Internet of Things by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China.

The Group actively participated in group formulation for two standards, namely, the “General Requirements for User Manual of Building Materials Products” and the “General Requirements for Traceability and Traceability System of Building Materials Products” hosted by the China Building Materials Federation. Among the participating units, the Company ranked second for the “General Requirements for Traceability and Traceability System of Building Materials Products” and fourth for the “General Requirements for User Manual of Building Materials Products”. 

In terms of intelligent logistics, during the year, the “Smart Card” intelligent logistics system had been promoted and launched at 5 concrete batching plants and 2 aggregates production plants, which achieved the unmanned weighbridges, helped to enhance delivery efficiency and delivery service quality, and reduced logistics costs. In addition, the Group continued to promote the in-depth application of intelligent logistics and promoted the upgrade of the Beidou system for vehicle transportation with pilot trial at the subsidiary production plants in the Southeast Region. Through technologies such as Beidou positioning, load-carrying hardware and artificial intelligence algorithms, the Group can perceive vehicle status in real time and achieve entry of equipment terminal data to China Resources Group’s Beidou spacetime data service platform.

In terms of smart marketing, during the year, the Group’s project for digital transformation of marketing model had been fully launched in the cement business of each regions with a coverage rate of 100%. At the same time, it was gradually rolled out in the concrete, aggregates and tile adhesives businesses. The logistics distribution business and supply chain financing business on the platform were launched simultaneously. As of the end of December 2022, the cumulative transaction volume of the e-commerce platform reached approximately 114.0 million tons, with nearly 30,000 registered users, 460 carriers cumulatively and approximately 65,000 vehicles (vessels) settled cumulatively. 

Research, Development and Innovation 

Innovation is an important momentum to stimulate corporate vitality and motivate long-term corporate development. As of the end of December 2022, the Group had 329 technology talents, among which, there were 76 employees specialized in research and development and 68 employees specialized in intelligentization and digitalization. 

In 2022, the Group continued to increase investment in research and development, actively promoted the research and development of new technologies and new products, and proposed the “3C” theory of energy saving and carbon reduction, i.e. low carbon at the source, carbon reduction in the process and decarbonization at the end. This theoretical system mainly formulates energy saving and carbon reduction technology pathways based on cement production mines, cement and clinker combustion systems, grinding systems, concrete and other industrial chains to solve the carbon reduction issues of the industry.

The Group continues to construct a high-level platform for research and development of new materials. During the year, the “Southeast University-China Resources Cement Joint Research and Development Centre”, the “China Academy of Space TechnologyChina Resources Cement Joint Research and Development Laboratory” and the “China Resources Chemical Materials-China Resources Cement-China Resources Land Green, Low-Carbon and Environmentally Friendly Building Materials Innovation Consortium” were established respectively, which promoted the implementation of cooperative projects such as 3D printing, functional coatings and new wall materials and initiated joint training for doctoral and master’s engineering students. 

In addition, in order to encourage and support all-staff innovation, comprehensively enhance the quality and standard of technological innovation work and accelerate the transformation of technological innovation achievements, in 2022, the Group completed the preparation of the 2023 Technological Innovation Plan to further specify the direction of research and development for technological innovation and implement the cultivation plan for technological innovative talents. We issued seven policies including the “Regulations on the Management of Science and Technology Innovation”, the “Measures for the Identification of Science and Technology Talents” and the “Measures for the Management of Research and Development Projects”, held the Seventh “Runfeng Cup” Innovation Competition and the first open competition event to select the best candidates for major research and development projects, organized the first science and technology forum, launched the innovation platform of “Run Technological Innovation”, and initiated the first science popularization activity. Through establishing technological innovation system and creating an atmosphere for technological innovation, the Group expedited the advancement of technological innovation in the scopes of technology, management and business models and fostered the promotion and application of technological innovation achievements.

EMPLOYEES 

General Information 

As at 31 December 2022, the Group employed a total of 19,046 employees, all of whom are full-time, among whom, 344 were based in Hong Kong and the remaining 18,702 were based in the Chinese Mainland (19,491, 154, 19,337 respectively as at 31 December 2021). A breakdown of our employees by function is set out as follows:

Among our 472 senior and middle-level managerial staff, 87% are male and 13% are female, 83% possess university degrees or above, 16% have received post-secondary education and the average age of managerial staff is approximately 47 (410, 88%, 12%, 79%, 19%, 48 respectively as at 31 December 2021). 

The Group has established a remuneration allocation mechanism based on job value and combined with performance contribution, personal ability and talent development.