China Outlines 15th Five-Year Plan for Civil Explosives Safety Upgrades

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Safe Development of the Civil Explosives Industry. The plan sets ten quantitative targets for 2030, including four binding requirements such as completely unmanned operations in high-hazard Class 1.1 and 1.2 production workshops and raising site-mixed explosive capacity to at least 40 percent. MIIT also aims to consolidate the market, targeting top 10 enterprise groups to generate 70 percent of total industry output while forming three to five globally competitive conglomerates.

This plan establishes strict mandatory safety metrics and structural transformation pathways for a critical foundational industry. By mandating full automation in high-risk manufacturing steps and driving market consolidation, Beijing seeks to eliminate catastrophic industrial accidents at the source while modernizing infrastructure supply chains.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has unveiled a comprehensive strategy for the civil explosives sector, targeting major safety improvements, digital transformation, and market consolidation by 2030. According to reports from Xinhua and People's Daily, the newly released 15th Five-Year Plan for the Safe Development of the Civil Explosives Industry outlines ten core quantitative indicators aimed at elevating intrinsic safety and supply efficiency across the foundational industrial sector. A central focus of the roadmap is eliminating human risk through advanced automation. Among the policy's four binding targets, MIIT mandates that Class 1.1 and Class 1.2 high-hazard manufacturing workshops achieve completely unmanned operations on production lines. Additionally, licensed capacity for site-mixed explosives among enterprise groups must reach or exceed 40 percent. Five special action initiatives included in the plan specifically mandate achieving 100 percent automation and intelligent upgrading in critical production stages—namely chemical preparation, charging, and packaging—by 2030. To reduce operational risks, authorities are driving structural consolidation. The plan encourages companies to merge manufacturing sites, decommission outdated lines, and optimize regional layouts. Xinhua reported that the plan targets a sector structure where the top ten production enterprise groups account for at least 70 percent of total industry output value. Furthermore, China aims to cultivate three to five major civil explosive groups equipped with strong international operational capabilities. The plan also sets several indicative operational benchmarks, including maintaining a capacity utilization rate of at least 75 percent for major products, achieving a 60 percent intelligent equipment replacement rate for hazardous roles, and preventing major or catastrophic safety accidents. On the digital front, all production enterprises are required to establish dedicated databases and smart management platforms by the end of 2030. MIIT will also strengthen industry data security supervision and dynamically adjust enterprise production licensing based on market supply and demand.