Upgrades of Chinese industrial equipment accelerate through 2024

China has been strengthening large-scale equipment upgrades in the industrial sector this year, promoting industrial development and the green transformation while unleashing potential domestic demand, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Investment in equipment, tools and instruments increased by 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2024, with especially high growth in the production of high-tech and high-value-added products such as AI chips and servers.

"Large-scale equipment upgrades are not just short-term economic stimulus measures, but also medium and long-term measures consolidating the foundations of the economy. Through this policy stimulus, the space for updating these idle assets will be opened up, promoting the development of the economy and injecting over five trillion yuan (about 691.3 billion U.S. dollars) into economic development," said Fan Meng, director of the Industrial Investment Research Office at the Planning Research Institute of the CCID Consulting under the MIIT.

According to the MIIT, China will carry out large-scale equipment upgrades in 27 key industrial sectors in the next step, including petrochemical and chemical industries, the iron and steel industry, auto industry, industrial robotics and shipbuilding industry.

Upgrades of Chinese industrial equipment accelerate through 2024

The total profits of light industrial enterprises above the designated size in China (firms with annual business revenue of at least 20 million yuan) exceeded one trillion yuan (about 138.67 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-September period, according to the China National Light Industry Council.

Driven by supportive policies aimed at boosting the consumption, such as consumer goods trade-in programs, China's light industrial economy has been operating smoothly. The domestic and foreign trade markets are expanding steadily, and investment is recovering rapidly.

In the first three quarters, the operating income of light industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 16.52 trillion yuan, with profits totaling 1.02 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2 percent.

Among them, the output growth rates for household freezers, air conditioners and refrigerators stood at 14 percent, 8 percent, and 7.5 percent, respectively, and industries such as papermaking, batteries and furniture saw profits maintaining a double-digit growth.

The market size of light industry expanded steadily, with exports reaching 682.16 billion U.S. dollars, up 2.6 percent year on year.

Profits of China's light industrial enterprises above designated size exceeds one trl yuan in Jan-Sept