(Economic Observer) With an annual scale of 5 trillion yuan, China is deeply exploring the potential of equipment renewal

　　China News Service, Beijing, March 15th: Title: With an annual scale of 5 trillion yuan, China deeply taps the potential of equipment renewal

　　China News Service reporter Wang Enbo

　　When China, the world's largest manufacturing country, embarks on a large-scale equipment replacement process, the far-reaching impact can be imagined.

　　After the Central Financial and Economic Commission meeting and the government work report successively deployed, the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updates and Trade-in of Consumer Goods" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan") issued by the State Council of China was released to the public.

Officials described this action as "not only beneficial to the present but also beneficial to the long-term."

　　The current China can indeed benefit from a large-scale equipment update.

　　After the economy rebounds and improves, China still needs to work hard to consolidate the recovery momentum this year.

Although consumption has become the number one engine of China's economic growth, people still pay great attention to investment.

Because reasonable and effective investment can not only drive economic growth itself, but also produce radiation effects, create new job opportunities and stimulate potential consumption.

　　This "Action Plan" focuses on energy conservation and emission reduction, ultra-low emissions, safe production, digital transformation, intelligent upgrading and other directions to promote the upgrading and transformation of equipment in key industries, and is considered to contain considerable investment potential.

　　Wu Sa, deputy director of the Economic Research Institute of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, said that China is a major manufacturing country and ranks first in the world in terms of ownership of many equipment.

In 2023, the scale of equipment investment in China's key fields such as industry and agriculture will be approximately 4.9 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below). It is initially estimated that equipment renewal will be a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan.

　　The Bank of China Research Institute believes that this round of equipment upgrading will further boost overall investment growth by increasing demand for upstream and downstream industrial products, forming effective incremental support for fixed asset investment.

The agency estimates that China's fixed asset investment may increase overall by 1.2 to 1.5 percentage points as a result.

　　In the long run, the momentum China will gain from this is even difficult to estimate numerically.

　　The "Action Plan" clearly states that by 2027, the scale of equipment investment in the industrial field will increase by more than 25% compared with 2023, the energy efficiency of main energy-consuming equipment in key industries will basically reach the energy-saving level, and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools in industrial enterprises above designated size, as well as the numerical control of key processes The conversion rates exceeded 90% and 75% respectively.

　　If these goals are achieved as scheduled, they will further release advanced production capacity in China's industrial sector and improve production efficiency.

　　For example, the "Action Plan" proposes to encourage advanced products and eliminate substandard products in accordance with laws and regulations.

This will encourage industrial enterprises to eliminate a batch of outdated and inefficient equipment that has expired. Key industries such as machinery, aviation, and shipbuilding are expected to usher in the large-scale application of high-tech, high-efficiency, and high-reliability equipment and promote the high-end development of manufacturing.

　　"Promoting the application of intelligent manufacturing equipment and software" and "cultivating new models of intelligent empowerment of the digital economy" have also been written into the "Action Plan".

This not only creates conditions for a wide range of applications such as CNC machine tools, industrial robots, industrial control, and intelligent logistics, but also helps explore new models of intelligent manufacturing based on artificial intelligence.

　　Yu Xiaohui, president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, believes that promoting equipment updates and upgrades in the direction of high-end, smart, green and safe will drive the overall competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry to improve.

　　Of course, the main body of equipment renewal in the industrial field is enterprises. Lack of funds, lack of policies, and lack of environment may dampen their enthusiasm.

　　In particular, the current world economic growth momentum is insufficient, and the foundation for China's economic recovery has yet to be solidified. It is inevitable that some companies are worried about heavy investment in equipment upgrades, long cycles, and slow results, and choose to wait and see for the time being.

　　China has also settled the accounts for enterprises in advance and made a package of policy arrangements.

For example, in terms of fiscal and taxation, qualified equipment update projects are included in the scope of central budget investment and other financial support, and digital and intelligent transformation are included in the scope of preferential treatment; in terms of financial support, re-loan policy tools are used to guide financial institutions to strengthen their support for equipment updates and technology Retrofit support.

　　Yu Xiaohui said that this will further expand the scope of policy benefits, effectively reduce corporate investment costs, and greatly increase corporate enthusiasm and willingness to update equipment.

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