China shut down more than 100 small-scale civilian explosives producers so far this year in an effort to restructure the sector to ensure work safety, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday.

Mergers and acquisitions which formed bigger enterprises reduced the number of civilian explosives producers from 405 to 146 nationwide. The number of marketers went down from 1,728 to less than 500.

According to the work safety department of the Ministry, products featuring environmental-friendly and safer technologies have become dominant on the Chinese civilian explosives market.

Market share of such products was 53 percent at the end of the third quarter of this year, up 4.9 percent on the same period of last year.

The country's explosives for civil use are applied in fields such as industrial construction and festival celebration.

China's demand for explosives for civil use stands at approximately three million tonnes, as against an annual production capacity of 4.8 million tonnes. The supply and demand are largely balanced, as production usually suspends on holidays, according to the Ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2008)