By YU Haoyuan

In the middle of March, China released an action plan to encourage large-scale equipment renewal and the trade-in of old consumer goods.

The plan will implement four key actions: equipment renewal, trade-in programs for old consumer goods, recycle and reuse initiatives, and improving standards.

Specifically, the government will promote the production and use of advanced equipment, increase the share of advanced production capacity, and facilitate greater access to high-quality, durable consumer goods for households. Resource recycling and the overall quality of national economic flows will be improved.

Taking action to renew equipment is the first step in a general shake-up for the government in this field. This includes promoting the upgrading of equipment in major industries, speeding up the renewal of equipment in construction and municipal infrastructure sectors, replacing urban buses with electric ones, updating old agricultural machinery, and enhancing the quality of education, cultural, tourism, and medical equipment.

The second step is implementing the “trade-in” program in the consumer goods sector, which covers automobiles, household appliances, and home decoration consumer goods.

Third, initiatives will be taken for recycling and reusing resources.This initiative involves improving the infrastructure for recycling used products and equipment, supporting the trading of second-hand goods, advancing remanufacturing and cascade utilization, and fostering high-level resource recycling.

Meanwhile, the fourth action focuses on striving to improve standards, a very necessary endeavour. It includes refining the standards for energy consumption, emission, and technical products. This will result in the subsequent improvement of resource recycling, while the domestic standards will be aligned with their international counterparts.

By 2027, investment in equipment across different sectors including industries, agriculture, construction, transportation, education, culture and tourism, and healthcare is projected to increase by over 25 percent compared to 2023.

Besides, the energy efficiency of major energy-consuming equipment in key industries will achieve energy-saving standards. There will be greater capacity to meet top-level environmental performance criteria. In addition, more than 90 percent of large-scale industrial enterprises will be penetrated by digital R&D tools while there will be over 75 percent numerical control in key processes.

What's more, the volume of scrapped automobiles is anticipated to double that of 2023, while second-hand car transactions will see a 45 percent increase over 2023. Also, the volume of scrapped household appliances will rise by 30 percent compared to 2023, meaning a further increase in the proportion of recycled materials in terms of resource supply.

Media pundits believe that all these efforts will boost investment and consumption, which could benefit present and long term economic development.