Huiminsheng Reduces Energy Consumption by Expanding Domestic Demand - Measures to Replace Old Automobiles and Household Appliances

The executive meeting of the State Council on the 19th decided to implement the “new-for-new” policy for automobiles and home appliances, and took out financial funds of 7 billion yuan to subsidize the elimination and purchase of related types of vehicles and the elimination of 5 types of old household appliances by designated urban residents.

This is the first large-scale use of fiscal funds in China to encourage consumers to buy new home appliances and cars. What are the significance of these measures by the state? The reporter interviewed some consumers, related companies, representatives of the industry, and experts and scholars.

Consumer: Did not expect such a good thing

After hearing news that the state subsidized urban residents for “new-for-new” purchases of home appliances, Mr. Liu, a journalist working for a media in Beijing, said happily: “I really thought that there is such a good thing!” “I’ve planned to buy one soon. The LCD TV has eliminated the bulky CRT TVs at home."

Mr. Jia, who works in a Beijing-based foreign-funded enterprise, told reporters that his home's old TVs and used air conditioners are relatively high in energy consumption and have not adapted to current technological development trends. However, compared with the cost of updating products, the cost of electricity prices is obviously small. many. This time the country can introduce such a favorable subsidy policy. It is really a big push for him. He will use this rare opportunity to upgrade the quality of home appliances.

There are many people who brewing consumption upgrades. Consumers in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong and Fuzhou and Changsha will be the first to benefit from the new policy.

The State Council executive meeting on the 19th decided to allocate 2 billion yuan for the “new-for-new” subsidy for home appliances and stipulated that “in principle, consumers who buy old home appliances and buy new home appliances within the subsidy range should be given 10% of the sales price of new home appliances. subsidy".

Analyst Zhu Lijun, an analyst at Galaxy Securities, which specializes in home appliance industry research, believes that in view of the fact that consumer upgrades mainly occur in China's first- and second-tier cities and the coastal wealthy provinces, the pilot regions of home appliances “TM” policy first selected Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. , Shandong, Guangdong and Fuzhou, Changsha.

In Zhu Lijun’s view, the per capita disposable income of the above 9 provinces and cities is higher than the national average level of urban and rural areas, which are relatively rich areas. In addition to the wealth factor, the household appliance holdings in these regions have reached a relatively high level five years ago. There is a certain demand for upgrading and the consumption upgrade is most likely to occur.

According to experts, in recent years, the main factors driving the sales of TV sets in China have been upgrading: traditional TV sales have fallen by about 50%, while flat-panel TVs have maintained a 50% increase. At present, the number of cities and towns that have refrigerators and washing machines has reached about 100 in 2000 or so. Since the service life of refrigerators and washing machines is 8-10 years, it has now entered the replacement period, and there is a large update demand in the market. The government’s home appliance “trade-in” policy will stimulate the upgrading of home appliance product consumption, thus promoting the growth of industry sales and allowing more consumers to use new home appliances.

Expand domestic demand and maintain growth

Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the economic data for April did not show a trend of continuous and sustained growth. Economic indicators such as electricity consumption are still negative, indicating that whether economic growth can continue remains to be seen. Relying on investment can only stimulate the demand for steel and cement, but it has little effect on personal consumption. Looking at the current situation, the economic recovery is still unbalanced. The next major task is to further consolidate the momentum of economic growth and to further expand domestic demand from the perspective of consumption.

Zhu Lijun believes that the introduction of the “new-for-new” policy for household appliances is a continuation of the recent government’s revitalization of the manufacturing industry to stimulate consumer demand policies. From the government's introduction of home appliances to the countryside policy, to the introduction of electronic information industry planning, light industry revitalization plan, and then to the current home appliance "trade-in" policy, the policy path is to stimulate low-end consumption, stimulate the first purchase of rural household appliances, transition to support Manufacturers, to stimulate high-end consumption, stimulate consumption upgrades.

Song Shi, a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Trade of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the introduction of a fiscal subsidy to promote the replacement of home appliances and cars with old ones can play a role in stimulating consumption, especially to release middle-income urban residents in the upgrading of these two types of products. Consumer demand.

Jiang Feng, deputy director and secretary-general of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, told Xinhua News Agency that the “renewal of old” policy for home appliances was one of the country’s policy measures to launch the second round of expansion of domestic demand.

Jiang Feng said that since the beginning of this year, under the influence of a series of policies related to the expansion of domestic demand, such as “home appliances to the countryside”, the sales of home appliances in the rural market have grown rapidly, but the overall sales of cities have fallen. The “renewal of old” policy is mainly aimed at the urban market. Under the condition that the urban household electrical appliance penetration rate is already relatively high, changing the potential demand of the city is an active demand.

A person in charge of an appliance company that did not wish to be named told reporters that “the central government has spent 2 billion yuan, which means that local finance will also invest in it.” “Even if the local government does not invest, the results will be immediate.” At the same time, "the above 9 provinces and cities are currently only pilots, if the country implements the future, the effectiveness of the policy is self-evident."

Sun Weimin, president of Suning Appliance, believes that the above-mentioned subsidized old household appliances are all large appliances. The average price of new products is 3,000 yuan. According to the 10% subsidy standard, each new machine can receive 300 yuan subsidy and 2 billion yuan can pull 200 yuan. Billion sales.

Dong Yang, executive vice president and secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said that the State Council has decided to use financial subsidies to encourage the "renewal of old cars," which will play a certain role in encouraging the commercial vehicle market to be warmed up.

Since the "Auto Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan" was issued, most of the encouragement policies such as vehicle purchase tax reductions and car-to-country projects have been concentrated in the field of passenger vehicles. These policies drove the domestic passenger car market to recover. In the first four months of this year, domestic sales of passenger vehicles increased by 15% year-on-year, while sales of commercial vehicles decreased by 3.86% year-on-year.

According to estimates of experts from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center, after the implementation of the “new-for-new” automobile policy, this year it is expected to drive the sales of 300,000 commercial vehicles.

Promote energy saving and emission reduction to reduce environmental pollution

Song said that the new policy helps reduce environmental pollution and promote the recycling of resources. “Taking the car as an example, consumers who use old cars to get new cars can not only get financial subsidies but also can reduce fuel consumption. It can save a lot of money inside and outside.”

Zhao Ying believes that, in the long run, accelerating the scrapping of home appliances and vehicles will free up the market for new vehicles. It will also explore a road for the development of circular economy in the future, realize a virtuous cycle of used household appliances and automobiles, and be conducive to the upgrading of urban industries. Got it.

Jiang Feng said that this also helps to achieve the goal of national energy-saving emission reduction: due to the adoption of new technologies and processes, new home appliances are mostly energy-saving and environmentally friendly than old appliances. In addition, the “new for old” policy also helps promote the recycling of used household electrical appliances.

The executive meeting of the State Council decided that “to give a fixed amount of subsidies for the transport costs of the old household appliances within the scope of the subsidies and to the dismantling enterprises.” For enterprises engaged in the recycling of old household appliances, the “old for new” subsidy policy is also a good one.

Fu Hongyu, the deputy secretary-general of the China Renewable Energy Recycling Association, said that the country's policies will not only help boost domestic demand, but also benefit China's construction of an old electronic product recycling system. For a long time, China’s recycling market is in a disorderly state. Manufacturers are unwilling to engage in recycling because they are not profitable. The tasks that they were supposed to undertake eventually fell on the small business hawkers, and the latter completely From the point of view of profitability, they desperately reduced the price of recycling. After recovery, they did not follow the formal procedures. This not only dampened the enthusiasm of consumers, but also buried the hidden dangers of pollution and security.

In an interview, the reporter learned that “replacement from old to new” is currently only a principled policy measure, and the home appliance industry generally hopes that the detailed rules of the policy will be introduced as soon as possible. The sales season for household appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners will soon be introduced. If the detailed rules can be introduced before the peak season, sales will be driven throughout the year.

Some home appliance companies and consumers expressed the hope that the scope of subsidies will be refined as soon as possible, and the main products and new products with large demand will be included in the subsidy range. At the same time as far as possible to simplify the subsidy application procedures, otherwise some urban consumers may be reluctant to participate because of the opportunity cost is too large. (