Zhejiang Province has recently launched an emergency special clean-up operation for unqualified pressure reducing valves throughout the province, with 691 low-quality pressure reducing valves confiscated in Pujiang County alone. Industry insiders believe that although the pressure reducing valve is a small component, it reflects that the quality of domestic valves is not optimistic.

At present, there are about 6000 valve manufacturing enterprises in China, of which 900 have an annual output value exceeding 5 million yuan. According to data provided by the Pump and Valve Industry Association of Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, known as the "Hometown of Pumps and Valves in China," the county alone produces over 300 types and 3000 specifications of valves, which are widely used in state-owned large enterprises and key engineering technology equipment. At the same time, valves have high technical requirements, and the valves currently produced by domestic enterprises generally have disadvantages such as external and internal leakage, low appearance quality, short service life, inflexible operation, and unreliable electric and pneumatic devices of valves. Some products are only equivalent to the level of the early 1980s. Experts predict that the future growth of the valve market will mainly be in the fields of electricity, petrochemicals, fertilizers, environmental protection, etc. For valve companies, whoever has good technology and excellent quality, and who can continuously develop new products, will be able to seize the opportunity in fierce competition.

Experts suggest that in order to improve the quality of valves, efforts must be made in production management, technical level, and new product development. Firstly, we need to strengthen management. Production and technical management should be aligned as soon as possible, accelerating the adoption of standards and advanced standards, increasing investment, introducing modern and automated equipment, and innovating existing products. At the same time, valve enterprises should take effective measures in the selection of raw materials, casting and forging processes, heat treatment, and other aspects of castings and forgings, so as to achieve a level of internal quality and appearance of castings and forgings. Secondly, we need to vigorously develop high-tech new products. Experts predict that during the 11th Five Year Plan period, the development focus of valves for petrochemical industry will be on the development of new valve products for major engineering projects such as large-scale petrochemical, oil and gas gathering and transportation pipelines, and coal liquefaction. For example, there will be a significant increase in demand for high-temperature valves, large-diameter high-pressure ball valves, large-diameter oil pipeline ball valves, and low-temperature valves for liquefied natural gas used in the export pipelines of ethylene cracking furnaces with a capacity of 800000 tons or more. It is expected that the total demand for the valve industry during the 11th Five Year Plan period will reach 34.5 billion yuan. Once again, efforts should be made to strengthen the research and control of valve internal and external leaks, strictly implement mechanical processing techniques, vigorously develop and promote new sealing materials, improve the machining accuracy of key parts of products, extend product service life, and fundamentally improve the phenomenon of "one short and two leaks" in valves.