Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 18, Title: Trade-in of old items for new ones will drive retail sales of home appliances to a new high in 2024
Xinhua News Agency reporters Xie Xiyao and Han Jianuo
The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce on the 18th that the trade-in policy continues to have a driving effect on the home appliance industry. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment by units above designated size in 2024 will be 1.0307 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3% over the previous year, exceeding the peak of 945.4 billion yuan in 2017 and breaking through the trillion yuan mark, setting a record high.
The home appliance trade-in policy not only boosts consumption but also drives production, satisfies high-quality life and promotes high-quality development. The main results are as follows in the following six aspects.
The consumption potential of home appliances is continuously released——
In 2024, the central government will step up its efforts to support the trade-in of eight major categories of home appliances to achieve sales of more than 62 million units, directly driving consumption of nearly 270 billion yuan. From September to December 2024, the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment in units above designated size increased by 20.5%, 39.2%, 22.2%, and 39.3% respectively on a monthly basis, with double-digit growth for four consecutive months.
Value-added tax invoice data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the retail sales of household audio-visual equipment such as televisions and daily household appliances such as refrigerators increased by 38.1% and 75.4% respectively year-on-year, significantly faster than the growth rate in the third quarter.
The scale of the home appliance industry continues to expand——
Increased output. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in 2024, the output of air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators and other products will achieve rapid growth, with growth rates of 9.7%, 8.8% and 8.3% respectively.
Categories increase. Data from the State Administration for Market Regulation show that from March 7 to November 7, 2024, a total of 102,000 new types of home appliance products were added in eight categories in my country, a year-on-year increase of 79%.
Exports climbed. From January to November 2024, my country exported nearly 4.1 billion home appliances, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%, of which exports of air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and TVs increased by 28.0%, 20.5%, 13.8%, and 10.9% respectively year-on-year.
The level of resource recycling has been significantly improved——
The amount of recycling and dismantling has doubled. Data from key companies contacted by the Ministry of Commerce show that the recycling volume of used household appliances will increase by 14.83% year-on-year in 2024; data from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s home appliance dismantling companies show that the number of waste household appliances that are standardized to be dismantled will increase by 20% year-on-year in 2024.
The pilot work was carried out in an orderly manner. The review of pilot cities and enterprises for the construction of a recycling system for renewable resources such as used household appliances and furniture has been carried out, and a list of 32 pilot cities and 78 pilot enterprises has been initially formed.
Multiple subjects form a joint force. Haier has built the industry’s first home appliance recycling interconnected factory, Tmall has launched old collection business in more than 2,000 districts and counties across the country, and Hi Recycling has built a digital full-category recycling service platform.
The concept of green consumption is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people——
Green products are highly favored. Among the eight categories of home appliances traded in for new ones, sales of first-class energy-efficiency products account for more than 90%.
Subsidy categories continue to expand. More than 20 provinces have included water purifiers, dishwashers and other green smart appliances into the scope of subsidies based on the consumption situation of local residents to meet diversified and personalized consumption needs.
Remarkable results have been achieved in energy conservation and emission reduction. According to the National Energy Conservation Center, the replacement of high-efficiency home appliances in 2024 will help the whole society save more than 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year.
Industry competitiveness has been greatly enhanced——
Corporate revenue growth. Relevant data shows that from January to November 2024, the cumulative main business income and total profit of China’s home appliance industry increased significantly.
The performance of listed companies improved. The third quarterly report of 2024 shows that 93 of the 106 listed companies in the home appliance sector are profitable, accounting for nearly 90%.
Policy dividends benefit more people——
Increased willingness to change. More than 37 million consumers across the country participated in the trade-in of home appliances. It took 33 days for the number of participants to exceed 1 million, and only 17 days for the number to reach 5 million.
Activate the offline market. There are nearly 100,000 offline business entities across the country, and more than 150,000 offline sales stores participate in the trade-in of home appliances.
Serve key groups. More than 2.6 million “silver-haired people” over the age of 60 across the country participate in the trade-in of home appliances.
Boost consumption in counties. From September to December 2024, home appliance sales in the county market of major e-commerce platforms increased by 9.54% year-on-year.
It is understood that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to organize and implement, and guide various localities to implement the detailed implementation of the replacement of old home appliances with new ones and expand the coverage. We will do a good job in transition and expansion of home appliances from 8 categories to 12 categories in 2024, and at the same time expand the number of subsidized air conditioners per person to 3 pieces. Optimize the policy operation process, further optimize subsidy application and fund allocation, and provide one-stop services such as replacement, installation, and old collection. Encourage subsidies for new purchases and facilitate people to hand over old ones, speed up the improvement of the recycling system for waste household appliances and other renewable resources, and promote the formation of an effective mechanism that makes it easier to get rid of old items and more willing to replace them with new ones.
[Editor in charge: Cheng Erfan]
