Cultivating New Growth Points: Multiple Measures to Improve and Upgrade the Light Industry

　　Light industry is a traditional advantageous industry and an important livelihood industry in our country. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the "Light Industry Stable Growth Work Plan (2023-2024)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Work Plan"), which specifically proposes a series of key measures aiming for an average growth rate of about 4% in light industry added value from 2023 to 2024, and for the operating revenue scale of enterprises above designated size to exceed 25 trillion yuan.

　　Industry insiders indicate that China's light industry is characterized by large scale, strong consumption-driven growth, wide industrial coverage, and a complete industrial chain, making it an important force for stable industrial growth. The related policy deployments focus on targeted measures for key industry categories, which is conducive to stabilizing the fundamentals and strengthening new growth drivers.

· Focus on Stabilizing Key Industries ·

　　Light industry covers multiple fields including food, clothing, housing, transportation, entertainment, and education, involving 20 major categories and 68 medium categories of the national economy. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in June this year, the added value of light industry increased by 2.3% year-on-year, up 1.7 percentage points from May; in the first half of this year, retail sales of 11 key light industrial products reached 3.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%.

　　However, it should also be noted that currently, China's light industry growth faces certain difficulties, with the added value of light industry increasing only 0.4% year-on-year in the first half of this year.

　　In response, the "Work Plan" proposes targets such as an average growth rate of about 4% in light industry added value from 2023 to 2024 and operating revenue scale of enterprises above designated size exceeding 25 trillion yuan, focusing on stable growth and targeted measures for key industries. It clearly emphasizes stabilizing key industries such as household goods, plastic products, papermaking, leather, batteries, and food.

　　Workers are working in the production workshop of a furniture enterprise in the Lutai Economic Development Zone, Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shiyao.

　　Taking the home furnishing sector as an example, the home furnishing industry covers industries such as home appliances, furniture, lighting appliances, and hardware products. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in the first half of this year, the operating revenue of enterprises above designated size in these four industries reached 1.7 trillion yuan.

　　Lu Fei, senior researcher at JD Consumer and Industry Development Research Institute, told reporters that the institute compared consumption in the first half of this year with 2022 and 2019, and jointly released a consumer psychology survey with JD Insights. The survey data shows a significant increase in the proportion of consumption aimed at improving family life quality, with home decoration and building materials consumption among JD users increasing by 13.6% over four years.

　　The "Work Plan" proposes implementing a high-quality development action plan for the home furnishing industry, carrying out smart home interconnection development actions, strengthening standard guidance and platform construction, and promoting integrated development in the home furnishing field. Activities such as the Home Renewal Season are held to encourage qualified localities to carry out green smart home appliance rural promotion and trade-in activities.

　　He Yaqiong, director of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, recently stated that the ministry will take the high-quality development action of the home furnishing industry as a starting point, exert efforts on both supply and demand sides, focusing on optimizing supply, promoting upgrades, and expanding consumption.

　　In addition, in the battery field, efforts will be made to vigorously develop high-safety lithium-ion batteries, lead-carbon batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and other products, expanding their applications in new energy vehicles, energy storage, communications, and other fields; in the food field, accelerate the cultivation of traditional advantageous food production areas and local specialty food industries, further strengthen clusters of dairy products, meat products, baijiu, and other specialty food industries... The "Work Plan" implements relevant measures in each industry to ensure detailed and effective policy implementation.

· Cultivate and Expand New Growth Points ·

　　While focusing on stabilizing key industries, related support measures will further cultivate and expand new growth points such as elderly products and prefabricated foods.

　　In the field of elderly products, with the gradual deepening of population aging in our country, the elderly product manufacturing industry is developing rapidly. According to estimates by the Aging Association, the market size of elderly products in China reached 4.6 trillion yuan in 2022, with an average growth rate of 10% in the past two years.

　　The "Work Plan" proposes to deeply implement guiding opinions to promote the development of the elderly product industry, release a promotion catalog of elderly products, enrich the variety of elderly products; improve the design, research and development, testing, and certification capabilities of age-appropriate products; and cultivate elderly product industrial parks, among other measures.

　　He Yaqiong stated that efforts will continue to optimize the supply of elderly products and services. In the next two years, greater efforts will be made to collect, promote, and support the release of new products, allowing more high-quality and affordable products to enter elderly life. According to age-appropriate requirements, smart terminals will be continuously optimized and upgraded, enhancing the design, research and development, testing, and certification capabilities of age-appropriate products.

　　In the field of prefabricated foods, the "Work Plan" proposes implementing an action plan to promote the development of prefabricated food industry, vigorously developing convenient foods, self-heating foods, rice and flour products, pre-processed dishes, and other product forms.

　　He Yaqiong said that in response to current consumer demands for safe, delicious, nutritious, healthy, convenient, and diverse food consumption, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with relevant ministries, is studying and issuing policy documents to promote the development of the prefabricated food industry, accelerating the prefabricated transformation of local traditional delicacies and specialty snacks, and launching more high-quality, uniquely flavored, and nutritionally safe prefabricated foods.

　　In addition, in the infant and child products field, efforts will be made to vigorously promote educational, model, outdoor, and sports infant and child products; in the cultural, sports, and leisure products field, using sports events and other activities to accelerate the promotion of ice and snow and outdoor sports equipment, sports leisure bicycles, and other products; in the biomanufacturing field, strengthen the development and innovation of characteristic plant raw materials, promote large-scale production of active ingredient biomanufacturing, and increase applications in food, cosmetics, and other industries... A series of measures will create a batch of consumption hotspots, expand diverse consumption scenarios, broaden product application ranges, and further boost the consumer market.

· Continuously Stimulate Domestic Demand Potential ·

　　As an important livelihood industry, light industry is closely related to resident consumption. From building high-quality exhibition and display platforms to linking online and offline to expand consumption scenarios, multiple parties continuously stimulate domestic demand potential.

　　Recently, China Telecom's new consumption platform shopping festival was launched. It is reported that from July 31 to August 6, an online event zone was set up, gathering nearly 40 central enterprise platforms and more than 500 local specialty products, supported by full-process digital operation capabilities such as traffic exposure, live streaming sales, and logistics after-sales, providing consumers with a convenient shopping experience of ordering online and home delivery of agricultural specialty products.

　　Ning Meng, general manager of Tianyi E-commerce Co., Ltd. under China Telecom, told reporters that China Telecom has established cooperative relationships with more than 41 central enterprises and some local state-owned enterprises, with over 50,000 high-quality products from state-owned assets and enterprises launched online. Through jointly holding digital new consumption festivals and other activities, they have covered over 100 million user visits and achieved a cumulative transaction amount of 112.7 billion yuan.

　　Statistics show that since the beginning of this year, multiple parties have successively organized themed activities such as the Spring Consumption Season, National Consumption Promotion Month, Green Consumption Season, International Consumption Season, and Summer Consumption Season.

　　The "Work Plan" proposes vigorously implementing the "Three Products" strategy, building high-quality exhibition and display platforms, linking online and offline to expand consumption scenarios. Promotional activities such as "Online New Year Goods Festival," "Double Product Online Shopping Festival," and "Foodie Festival" will be carried out. New retail formats such as smart home experience centers, smart appliance life halls, and health lighting experience centers will be vigorously developed, cultivating more than 50 smart home experience centers.

　　Technicians conduct noise testing on a soon-to-be-launched product in the laboratory of an air conditioning company in Liujiang District, Liuzhou City, Guangxi. Xinhua News Agency photo by Li Hanchi.

　　Yang Wei, Deputy Director of the Consumer Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that the next steps will include launching activities such as the "Golden Autumn Shopping Festival" and the "Home Renovation Consumption Season," guiding localities to organize distinctive consumption promotion activities tailored to local conditions, optimizing consumption supply, and unleashing consumption potential. At the same time, innovative consumption scenarios will be created to stimulate consumption vitality, guiding regions to integrate business, tourism, culture, and sports, and to coordinate online and offline efforts to create more immersive, experiential, and interactive new consumption scenarios.

　　Lu Fei believes that to fully stimulate the domestic demand potential of light industrial products, it is necessary to emphasize the important role of online consumption and service consumption. At the same time, the potential of data elements to facilitate economic circulation should be unleashed through "digital-physical integration," leveraging the advantages of new types of physical enterprises in the digital economy era to promote consumption growth and better support the development of the real economy.