The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been holding internal sessions with key industry associations — steel, petrochemicals, machinery — to assess conditions and prepare measures for the next stage of steady growth. It plans to start a batch of key projects with other departments to keep industrial investment growing, and to issue detailed support for small and medium enterprises facing weak orders and rising input costs, so that the benefits land in the first quarter.
The start of the year
After a pressured second half of last year, the signals in January were broadly positive: new energy vehicle output and sales up 130% and 140% year on year, exports of higher-end light industrial goods such as premium bicycles still strong, the SME development index up three months running, and manufacturing PMI above 50% for three months.
Industry associations read the outlook as improving. Steel prices rose through January and February on steadier expectations, though downstream demand has not fully started. Machinery benefits from major projects already under way under the 14th Five-Year Plan, and the headwinds of 2021 — raw material prices, coal and power supply, chip shortages — should ease in 2022. Automakers have stockpiled chips and worked to keep supply chains flowing through the first quarter.
The risks and the response
The ministry’s deputy head cautioned that recovery is not yet firm: outbreaks in multiple regions are disrupting supply chains, demand is recovering slowly, and cyclical and sudden factors keep shifting expectations.
The response focuses on unblocking supply — chips, components, energy, logistics — and on getting firms with orders and markets into production. Investment is to lead: key projects identified and started quickly, with funding, labour and land problems solved so plants reach capacity sooner. Traditional industries get pushed toward green, low-carbon and intelligent upgrading, and consumption of big-ticket goods such as cars is to be encouraged.
SMEs are the crux. Measures include implementing existing relief policies, issuing detailed new ones, pressing on overdue payments to smaller firms, and cleaning up arbitrary charges. The stated aim is for policy to run ahead of the economic curve — using the policy dividend to offset downward pressure and keep industrial growth stable.
Republished for information. The original text has not been independently verified and does not necessarily reflect our views.
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