China Light Industry Federation: From January to November, the total number of home appliances traded in for new ones nationwide exceeded 128 million units. High-end and intelligent furniture products have become a new growth point for consumer upgrades.

On December 26th, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a special press conference on the effectiveness of the "two new" standard improvement action. Liu Jiangyi, Vice President of China Light Industry Federation, stated at the conference that from January to November this year, over 128 million household appliances were exchanged for new ones, driving related sales to exceed 2.5 trillion yuan. Standards such as furniture intelligence rating are helping to promote industry intelligence upgrades, leading enterprises are accelerating the launch of high-end intelligent furniture products, and the market scale has exceeded 100 billion yuan, becoming a new growth point for furniture consumption upgrades. In the next step, the China Light Industry Federation will continue to focus on key areas of people's livelihood, organize the promotion and tracking evaluation of standards, promote the deep integration of standards and industries, and allow more high-quality light industry products to enter households, providing strong standard guarantees for expanding domestic demand and ensuring people's livelihood. The original text is as follows: Transcript of the special news conference on the effectiveness of the "two new" standard upgrade action by the State Administration for Market Regulation On the morning of December 26th, the State Administration for Market Regulation held a special press conference on the effectiveness of the "two new" standard upgrade action. The following is the text from the press conference: Deputy Director of the News and Propaganda Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Sun Yanfeng: Ladies and gentlemen, media friends, welcome to the special press conference of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Since the issuance of the "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement with Standards", jointly issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and six other departments in 2024, the important standards for the "two new" sectors have achieved positive results in supporting the expansion of market demand, promoting equipment renewal, and stimulating consumer consumption. In order to help everyone better understand the situation, today we have invited Mr. Liu Hongsheng, Director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Ms. Yao Jia, Deputy Director of the Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Liu Jiangyi, Vice President of the China Light Industry Federation, and Mr. Zhang Yiwen, Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Administration, to introduce the relevant content and answer questions from reporters. First, Mr. Liu Hongsheng will introduce the overall situation. Director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Liu Hongsheng: Good morning, media friends! In order to implement the deployment of the Fourth Meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Committee, carry out the "two new" action, the State Administration for Market Regulation has conducted in-depth investigations and research in industry associations and research institutions, and jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement with Standards" with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and six other departments, focusing on accelerating the upgrade of energy consumption and emission standards, strengthening the improvement of product quality and safety standards, and increasing the supply of recycling and reuse standards. The deployment of revising and formulating 294 national standards in 13 key areas. After two years of work, all departments have strengthened coordination and cooperation, solidly promoted standard formulation, and all related standards have been approved and published, completing the standard formulation task successfully. Below, I will briefly introduce the relevant situation of the "two new" standard upgrade. First, highlight the energy-saving and carbon reduction constraints leading to equipment transformation and upgrading with standards. In order to guide enterprises to carry out technological transformation and equipment renewal and upgrade, eliminate backward production capacity and products, organize the revision of energy consumption limit standards for key industries such as thermal power, steel, and building materials, comprehensively tighten requirements for general equipment such as boilers, motors, and transformers, and release 113 national standards to help accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity and continuously improve the proportion of advanced production capacity. For example, the new version of the mandatory national standard for coal-fired power generation units is expected to reduce the average coal consumption for electricity generation to below 302 grams of standard coal per kilowatt-hour by 2030, corresponding to a reduction of approximately 160 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Improve the carbon emission accounting and product carbon footprint standard system, issue 18 national standards for enterprise greenhouse gas emissions accounting, provide a unified normative framework for solving the questions of "what is carbon emissions" and "how to calculate," guide enterprises to implement energy-saving and carbon reduction transformations systematically. Secondly, catering to the actual needs of consumer consumption, promote the consumption upgrade with standards. In order to meet the people's desire for a high-quality life, green safety, etc., organize the revision and formulation of 115 national standards in areas such as automobiles, household appliances, home furnishings, emerging consumption, etc., continually improve the quality and safety standards of products, promote the entry of high-quality and durable consumer goods into people's lives, and meet the needs of the people for improving their lives. For example, the safety standard for electric vehicle power batteries has made a major breakthrough by listing "no fires, no explosions" as mandatory requirements for the first time, promoting vehicle manufacturers to optimize battery structures and thermal management systems, significantly improving the safety level of new energy vehicles, and enhancing consumer confidence. The release of the national standard for elderly-friendly environmental assessment has provided a scientific basis for the government's subsidy for aging-friendly renovations. According to relevant statistics, by 2025, it has driven a sales amount of nearly 5.7 billion yuan for related products. Third, build a recycling standard system to ensure efficient circulation and reuse of resources with standards. Organize the revision of 66 national standards for resource recycling and utilization in key areas such as household appliances, furniture, electronic products, photovoltaics, wind power, and power batteries around key links such as recycling of waste products, disassembly, and reuse, guide product design to consider easy recyclability and reusability from the beginning, standardize scientific disassembly and reuse of products during the recycling process, and remove obstacles in the entire chain of smooth circulation. For example, the introduction of mandatory national standards for the information clearing of electronic products clarifies the technical requirements and responsibilities of all parties, ensuring the safety of circulation and privacy protection of second-hand products. The release of 12 national standards for the recycling and utilization of power batteries has constructed a national standard system covering disassembly, residual energy detection, and reuse, promoting efficient recycling and utilization of strategic resources such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium. Next, the State Administration for Market Regulation will continue to consolidate the achievements of the "two new" standard upgrade action, increase the implementation strength of standard promotion, continuously use high standards to drive industrial innovation, promote consumption growth, and serve high-quality development. I've introduced these for now, thank you! Deputy Director of the News and Propaganda Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Sun Yanfeng: Thank you for Mr. Liu Hongsheng's introduction. We will now move on to the question and answer session, please state the news organization you are from before asking a question. Economic Daily reporter: The "two new" action covers various aspects and focuses on tasks such as equipment renewal, consumer goods replacement, and resource recycling. How does the administration accurately grasp standard requirements and deploy 294 key national standards? Director of the Standards and Technology Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Liu Hongsheng: The State Administration for Market Regulation has been implementing the "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement with Standards" to carry out the "two new" action. We have conducted surveys and research in 15 departments, 8 industry associations, and 73 national professional standardization technical committees. We have focused on key standards to accelerate the revision work. Firstly, in promoting equipment renewal, we found that although China has issued over 140 energy consumption and efficiency standards and over 170 emission standards, with technological upgrades, the relevant energy efficiency indicators need to be further improved, and emission requirements need to be further tightened. Carbon emission accounting and product carbon footprint standards for enterprises need to be improved. Therefore, we have focused on accelerating the upgrade of energy consumption and emission standards, deploying the revision of 113 national standards, guiding enterprises to implement technological transformation and equipment renewal, and helping eliminate backward production capacity. Secondly, in promoting the replacement of consumer goods, the feedback from the research shows that China has already issued over 4,500 standards in areas such as automobiles, household appliances, electronic products, and home furnishings, enhancing consumer experience and safety. However, with the development of intelligent, networked, and high-end consumer goods, there is a need to further enhance traditional consumer goods' quality and safety standards, drive the upgrade of traditional consumer goods, and accelerate the supply of standards for emerging consumer goods, leading the creation of new consumption patterns. Therefore, we have focused on deploying the revision of 115 national standards in areas such as automobiles, household appliances, home furnishings, and emerging consumption to promote the upgrade of consumer goods with standards and stimulate demand. Thirdly, in driving the efficient circulation of industries, we consider that equipment renewal and consumer goods replacement will bring a significant amount of scrapped products, posing a requirement to accelerate the development of the circular economy. By filling in the gaps in the standardization of the circular economy, guiding product design to prioritize easy recyclability and reusability, standardizing scientific dismantling and reuse processes, we have aimed to unblock points of circulation. For instance, we have introduced standards for consumer electronics data clearing, defining technical requirements and responsibilities to ensure the safety of second-hand product circulation and privacy protection. We have also released 12 standards for the recycling and utilization of power batteries, constructing a national standard system covering disassembly, residual energy detection, and reuse, promoting the efficient recovery and utilization of strategic resources like nickel, cobalt, and lithium. In conclusion, by accelerating the implementation of energy efficiency, environmental protection, safety, and recycling standards, we effectively support various types of equipment and consumer goods upgrades. With coordinated support from complementary policies, we aim to lead industrial transformation and upgrade and unleash consumption potential effectively. Beijing Daily reporter: The implementation of the "two new" action and the promotion of large-scale equipment renewal in the industrial sector is beneficial for expanding effective investment and continuously enhancing the proportion of advanced production capacity. It accelerates the construction of a modern industrial system. Could you please introduce the work done in this area and the situation of important standard formulation? Deputy Director of the Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Yao Jia: Thank you for the continued attention to the work of large-scale equipment renewal in the industrial sector. Large-scale equipment renewal in the industrial sector is a major decision and deployment made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council to promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of manufacturing, a crucial lever for developing new productive forces. Under the continued efforts of the "two new" policy, large-scale equipment renewal in China's industrial sector has accelerated, not only driving investment growth and promoting industrial development but also playing an important role in unleashing domestic demand and supporting green transformation. In promoting this systematic project, standards play a fundamental and leading role. In March 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other departments jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal in the Industrial Sector", emphasizing the leading role of standardization. Strengthening the formulation of technical, quality, energy consumption, and emission standards, directing enterprises to eliminate outdated equipment, use advanced equipment, improve production efficiency and technical levels. In the "two new" standard action, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology led the completion of the revision of 44 key national standards. This includes 24 mandatory national standards such as "Elevator Wire Ropes" and "Design, Selection, and Installation Specification for Explosion-Proof Electrical Apparatus in Explosive Atmospheres", as well as 20 recommended national standards like "General Specification for the Gradual Utilization of Retired Photovoltaic Modules" and "General Requirements for the Recycling and Utilization of Vehicle Power Batteries". Through strengthening the improvement of product quality and safety standards, accelerating the upgrade of energy consumption and emission standards, and increasing the supply of recycling and reuse standards, we used high standards to lead large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods replacement. In the next step, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will continue to work with relevant departments to further improve the industrial standard system, strengthen the application of standards, and focus on promoting the interpretation and implementation of published standards. At the same time, we will closely monitor industrial development trends and international frontiers, revise and update standards in a timely manner, continuously enhance the leading role of standards in equipment renewal, and make greater contributions to accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system supported by the real economy. Thank you for your attention! China Market Regulation News reporter: Which standards in the light industry sector are included in the "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement with Standards", and what roles and effects do the implementation of these standards have in promoting the high-quality development of the light industry sector? Vice President of China Light Industry Federation, Liu Jiangyi: The light industry sector is a traditional advantage industry and an important industry for people's livelihood in our national economy. By 2025, the light industry economy has shown robust and good development, demonstrating strong development resilience. From January to October this year, the light industry achieved a cumulative operating income of 19 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 1.9%; and achieved a profit of 1.14 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 1.6%. The light industry, with assets accounting for 13% of the national industry, has achieved 16.7% of the national operating income and 19.2% of the profits, making positive contributions to the stable growth of the national economy. The "Action Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Replacement with Standards" accurately targets the pain points of transformation and upgrading in the light industry and the needs of consumer consumption upgrades, deploying the revision of 52 key recommended national standards in the light industry sector. Among these are 38 standards for consumer goods replacement, 9 for recycling, and 5 for equipment renewal. Under the support of the national policy coordination for stabilizing growth and promoting consumption, the implementation of standards has not only provided solid support for the effectiveness of the consumer goods replacement policy but has also effectively driven the transformation and upgrading of the light industry sector. Firstly, in terms of replacement of old goods. By the end of 2024, the number of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and other household appliances in China exceeded 3 billion units, with performance quality, innovation categories, and other standards for household electrical appliances effectively supporting the implementation of the old-for-new policy. From January to November this year, over 128 million household appliances were replaced with new ones, driving related sales to exceed 2.5 trillion yuan. Standards such as intelligent furniture level rating have promoted the industry's intelligent upgrade, leading enterprises to accelerate the launch of mid-to-high-end intelligent furniture products, with a market scale exceeding 100 billion yuan, becoming a new growth point for furniture consumption upgrades. Secondly, in terms of low-carbon transformation. Carbon footprint accounting standards for daily ceramics, lighting appliances, plastic products, etc., have helped enterprises precisely identify high-carbon processes, optimize emission reduction pathways, and promote low-carbon transformation from the source. For example, in Jingdezhen, a concentrated ceramic production area, with over 3,500 furnaces and kilns, relying on standards to pinpoint emission reduction key areas and core issues, enterprises have been compelled to renew equipment and upgrade processes, estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 84,000 tons annually. Thirdly, in terms of recycling. From January to October this year, China has standardized the dismantling of about 86 million television sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and computers, producing about 1.9 million tons of recycled resources. Standards for household appliance recycling services have standardized the recycling and disposal process, improving the efficiency of waste appliance recycling and resource utilization. Standards for furniture green design, green products, and so on, guide companies to optimize raw material selection, improve production processes, and reduce resource and energy consumption. Currently, over 700 companies have had more than 2000 products certified as green furniture products, effectively supporting the green and circular development of the furniture industry. In the next step, the China Light Industry Federation will continue to focus on key areas of people's livelihood, organize the promotion and tracking assessment of standards, promote the deep integration of standards and industries, allowing more high-quality light industry products to enter households and providing strong standard guarantees for expanding domestic demand and ensuring people's livelihood. Thank you! Reporter from China News Service: As an economically developed province, how does Zhejiang play a role in leading standards, and what are its key measures? Deputy Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Market Supervision Administration, Zhang Yiwen: Zhejiang earnestly implements the national requirements for standardizing work in the "two new" action, fully leveraging the leading role of standards, and ensuring that the standard upgrade action runs through the entire process of equipment renewal, consumer goods replacement, and recycling and reuse. Firstly, we focus on enhancing the quality of standard supply. Participating in the formulation of 99 "two new" national standards, accounting for 33% of the total national tasks. Focusing on the requirements of "stronger" standards constraints, "higher" standard guidance, and "greener" standard support, we have released 114 "two new" and "Zhejiang Manufacturing" standards, leading high-quality development with high standards. For example, the national standard "General Technical Requirements for Desk and Chair for Midday Rest in Primary and Middle Schools" was developed to address the issue of students' difficulty in resting during lunchtime, and has become a key recommended standard for schools in the "Healthy Campus Action Plan" of the Ministry of Education. Secondly, we strengthen the effectiveness of implementation and supervision. Publishing 373 standardized interpretation texts through various media, we have comprehensively promoted the understanding and adoption of standards by enterprises. We have focused on the stringent implementation, supervision, and performance evaluation of mandatory national standards in key areas such as energy consumption and emissions, safety, and fire protection, as well as products such as electric bicycles, gas appliances, and household appliances. By conducting specialized inspections and spot checks, we have included 27 types of products in our province's product quality supervision focus and have organized special inspections for 500 batches of products. We have conducted centralized rectification of price order in the replacement of old goods, including filing and handling 123 cases of price-related violations, effectively safeguarding a fair competitive market environment and the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Thirdly, we emphasize the status of enterprises. With 410,000 self-declared and publicly disclosed standards in the province, we have effectively promoted companies to organize production, management, and services according to standards. Supporting enterprises to quickly convert key core technologies, advanced processes, etc., into advanced standards at home and abroad, by 2025, the number of internationally leading and national standards led by enterprises in the province has reached 338, achieving the highest level in history, with more than 80% of the standards being led by enterprises. For example, the province led the development of the national standard "Low Rebound Mooring Tendon for Ship Use", successfully breaking the foreign technology blockade, replacing imports with domestic products, with related enterprises becoming important partners in the domestication of the industrial chain for China National Offshore Oil Corporation's deep-sea oil and gas platform "national