Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 18th. Title: The old-for-new transaction drives the retail sales of home appliances to hit 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 driving effect of the old-for-new policy on the home appliance industry continues to emerge. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment products of units above the limit in 2024 was 1030.7 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 old-for-new home appliance policy not only boosts consumption and drives production, but also meets high-quality life and promotes high-quality development. The main results are the following six aspects.

The consumption potential of home appliances is constantly being released -

In 2024, the central government has stepped up its efforts to support the sales of eight major categories of home appliances for new products to achieve 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 products of units above the limit increased by 20.5%, 39.2%, 22.2% and 39.3% respectively, respectively, with double-digit growth for four consecutive months.

VAT invoice data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, the retail sales of household audio-visual equipment such as TVs and refrigerators increased by 38.1% and 75.4% year-on-year respectively, significantly faster than the growth rate in the third quarter.

The scale of the home appliance industry continues to expand—

Production has increased. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, the production 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 have increased. Data from the State Administration for Market Regulation shows that from March 7 to November 7, 2024, the number of eight major household appliances in my country increased by 102,000, a year-on-year increase of 79%.

Exports climbed. From January to November 2024, my country exported nearly 4.1 billion household appliances, an increase of 21.3% year-on-year, of which the exports of air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines and TVs increased by 28.0%, 20.5%, 13.8% and 10.9% year-on-year respectively.

The level of resource recycling has increased significantly -

The volume of recycling and dismantling has increased twice. Data from the Ministry of Commerce’s key contact companies shows that the recycling of waste home appliances increased by 14.83% year-on-year in 2024; data from the home appliance dismantling company of the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives show that the number of standardized dismantling of waste home appliances increased by 20% year-on-year in 2024.

The pilot work is carried out in an orderly manner. A pilot city and enterprise review was carried out for the construction of recycling systems for recycling waste household appliances and furniture, and a list of 32 pilot cities and 78 pilot enterprises was initially formed.

Multiple subjects form a synergy. Haier has built the industry's first home appliance recycling interconnection factory. Tmall has carried out old collection business in more than 2,000 districts and counties across the country, and has built a digital full-category recycling service platform.

The concept of green consumption is deeply rooted in people's hearts -

Green products are highly favored. Among the eight major categories of home appliances for old-for-new products, the sales of first-level energy-efficient products account for more than 90%.

Subsidy categories are constantly expanding. More than 20 provinces have included green smart home appliances such as water purifiers and dishwashers in the subsidy scope based on local residents' consumption situation to meet diversified and personalized consumption needs.

Energy saving and emission reduction have achieved remarkable results. According to the National Energy Conservation Center, the replacement of high-efficiency home appliances in 2024 will promote the whole society to save more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

Industry competitiveness has been greatly enhanced—

Company revenue has grown. Relevant data shows that from January to November 2024, the cumulative main business income and total profit of China's home appliance industry both increased significantly.

The performance of listed companies has improved. According to the third quarter report of 2024, 93 of the 106 listed companies in the home appliance sector made profits, accounting for nearly 90%.

Policy dividends benefit more people—

The willingness to change new things is enhanced. More than 37 million consumers across the country participated in the trade-in of home appliances, and it took 33 days to exceed 1 million, and it took only 17 days to go from 1 million to 5 million.

Activate offline markets. There are nearly 100,000 offline business entities nationwide, and more than 150,000 offline sales stores participate in the exchange of old home appliances.

Serve key groups. More than 2.6 million "silver-haired groups" over 60 years old across the country participated in the exchange of old home appliances.

Bood county consumption. From September to December 2024, the sales of home appliances 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 the work of implementing and expanding the expansion of household appliances with old and new. Make good work transitions, expand the eight major categories of home appliances to 12 major categories in 2024, and expand the number of air conditioners that each person can subsidize to 3. Optimize policy operation procedures, further optimize subsidy application and fund allocation, and provide one-stop services such as replacement, installation, and collection of old ones. Encourage subsidies to purchase new products and facilitate the people to share old products, accelerate the improvement of the recycling system for recycling waste household appliances and other recycling resources, and promote the formation of an effective mechanism that "it is easier to remove old products and is more willing to replace new products".