As a traditional pillar industry, an important livelihood industry, and an industry with certain international competitiveness in China, the light industry undertakes the important tasks of prospering the market, stabilizing exports, expanding employment, meeting people's consumption needs, and serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers. It plays a crucial role in China's economic and social development. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, light industry has made new progress in adjusting and optimizing, accelerating transformation, and sustainable development, and has overall reached a new level, fully completing the economic indicators and main tasks in the 12th Five Year Plan for Light Industry. However, compared to the world's advanced level, most of China's light industry is still large but not strong, and the tasks in structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, quality and efficiency improvement are urgent and arduous. What are the goals and tasks of the light industry during the 13th Five Year Plan period? How will we face the 13th Five Year Plan; Opportunities and challenges during this period? How should light industry, which is closely related to the daily lives of the people, start from the supply side, promote the three product strategy of variety, quality, and brand, promote effective resource integration, and build a supply system suitable for demand structure and consumption creation? Bu Zhengfa, President of the China Light Industry Federation, accepted an exclusive interview with our reporter on this matter.

Light industry holds a pivotal position and integrates into new highlights for development

Over the past five years, the downward pressure on the economy has been increasing. China's light industry has overcome difficulties, forged ahead, and made significant progress in accelerating structural adjustment and transformation of development mode. President Bu Zhengfa used a set of data to illustrate the achievements of light industry during the 12th Five Year Plan period.

The economy is growing steadily and rapidly. In 2015, the main business revenue of light industry enterprises was 28.2 trillion yuan, achieving a profit of 2 trillion yuan, of which enterprises above designated size were 23.14 trillion yuan and 1.49 trillion yuan respectively. The export of the entire industry is 598.239 billion US dollars. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, the main business income, profit, and export volume increased by 74.95%, 101.16%, and 68.3% respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 11.84%, 15%, and 10.97%, all higher than the national industrial growth rate, and the profit growth rate is particularly prominent. The contribution of light industry to the national economic and social development has further increased.

Speaking of the new highlights of light industry during the 12th Five Year Plan period, Bu Zhengfa told reporters that during the 12th Five Year Plan period, integrated development has become a new highlight, with rapid development of cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and manufacturing upgrading, mainly characterized by machines replacing manual labor. Intelligent manufacturing and internet technology applications have achieved positive results, and Haier has successively built 7 digital intelligent interconnected factories, achieving new results in large-scale customized production. The integration and development of cultural creativity and design services with related industries such as interior decoration, smart home, arts and crafts, and cultural and sports goods have formed new economic growth points. Innovation in business models, e-commerce, and the integration of online and offline development are further accelerating.

It is worth mentioning that during the 12th Five Year Plan period, the technological innovation capacity of China's light industry was significantly enhanced. There were 17 State Key Laboratory, 7 national engineering laboratories, 21 national engineering (technology) research centers, and 162 national enterprise technology centers, an increase of 47 from the end of the 11th Five Year Plan, accounting for 13.6% of the country. A batch of major national science and technology support plan projects and technological transformation projects have been successfully implemented. The R&D and industrialization projects of key materials and preparation technologies in the pen making industry have achieved 12 major innovative achievements, breaking through the bottleneck of core raw material technology, and improving the overall level of scientific and technological progress in the entire industry. China's self-designed and developed high-speed paper machines have achieved international advanced levels in multiple key technologies and main technical indicators. Breakthroughs have been made in a number of key common technologies in industries such as home appliances, plastics, hardware, leather, and food. During the 12th Five Year Plan period, the entire industry won 43 National Science and Technology Awards and 806 Science and Technology Awards from the China Light Industry Federation.

Meanwhile, during the 12th Five Year Plan period, the structural adjustment of light industry has achieved significant results, with significant changes in product structure, accelerated development of new products, improved product grades, and steadily improved quality; Breakthrough in energy conservation and environmental protection has been achieved, and the comprehensive consumption of key industries such as paper making and leather has significantly decreased, achieving increased production without increasing pollution; The international competitiveness has steadily improved, with the export volume of light industrial products ranking first in the national economy, and the production of over 100 products ranking first in the world.

Deepening Supply Side Reform by Transforming Mode and Adjusting Structure

The 13th Five Year Plan period is a decisive stage for China to comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society. It is a crucial stage for light industry to actively adapt to the new normal, enhance the driving force for innovative development, focus on improving the supply structure, and improve the quality and efficiency of development. What are the main tasks and development goals of the light industry at this stage?

Bu Zhengfa pointed out that China's light industry is currently in the throes of structural adjustment and the critical period of deepening reform, while still in an important period of development opportunities. The deep adjustment of the world industrial structure has had a huge impact on the manufacturing industry. China's traditional industries are facing multiple transformations in industrial structure, social structure, and demand structure, as well as multiple changes in speed, structural optimization, and power transformation. With the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, increasing supply to adapt to changes in consumer demand and consumption upgrading is a powerful driving force for the development of light industry. The pace of personalized, high-end, customized, and service-oriented consumer demand among residents is accelerating, and the consumption of high-quality, environmentally friendly, safe, healthy, fashionable, practical, and easy to operate goods and services is constantly increasing. The young generation is becoming the main force of consumption. Miniaturization, intelligence and specialization of production have become the new characteristics of industrial organization. Internet plus will create and promote new consumption concepts and development methods, accelerate the change of innovation system, organizational structure and business model, and bring significant opportunities and broad space for the development of the industry.

China is a major country in light industry, but it is large but not strong. The theme of light industry development during the 13th Five Year Plan period is transformation and upgrading. Therefore, the main goal of the light industry during the 13th Five Year Plan period is to maintain stable and rapid growth, promote the development of a strong light industry country, deepen supply side structural reforms, and significantly enhance technological innovation capabilities; Strengthen the leading role of innovation and promote the deep integration of industrialization and industrialization; Accelerate structural adjustment and optimize industrial layout; Strengthen quality brand building to ensure consumer safety; Increase efforts in energy conservation and environmental protection, and comprehensively promote green manufacturing; Implement industrial foundation strengthening projects to enhance the basic capacity of light industry; Coordinate domestic and international markets to improve the level of enterprises going global. Bu Zhengfa introduced to the reporter.

Implementing the Three Product Strategy to Expand Effective Supply

In May of this year, the General Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued the "Several Opinions on Carrying out the Special Action on the Third Product of Consumer Goods Industry to Create a Good Market Environment", as an important content of deepening supply side reform.

In recent years, most of the products that consumers have snapped up overseas are light industrial products. Previously, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Feng Fei stated in an interview with reporters that China is currently in a period of rapid changes and upgrades in consumer structure. Residents' consumption is shifting from a survival and subsistence based consumption dominated by clothing and food to a comfortable and moderately prosperous consumption represented by housing and behavior. From imitation based extensive consumption to personalized and diversified fine consumption, consumers are changing their attitudes towards the variety, quality, and style of consumer goods The requirements for specifications, brands, safety, and other aspects are constantly increasing, and consumption has an increasing contribution rate in economic growth and transformation and upgrading, becoming a leading force in expanding and enhancing demand. And many of the products that consumers buy from abroad are "Made In China", which also indicates that our products are not of poor quality, but are in a weak position in brand building.

In response to this reality, Bu Zhengfa introduced that during the 13th Five Year Plan period, light industry should vigorously implement the three product strategy of increasing variety, improving quality, and creating products for consumer goods, improve the level of creative design, and cultivate a number of exemplary consumer fashion creative design cities and industrial parks.

Develop personalized, fashionable, functional, and green consumer goods, and launch a batch of high-quality products with high technological content, high added value, exquisite design, exquisite production, and superior performance. Support the development of a batch of traditional specialty foods, innovate and enhance a batch of ethnic specialty products and tourism handicrafts.

Strengthen precise quality management and promote advanced quality management models and systems. Strengthen the basic work of enterprise quality management and sort out quality benchmark enterprises. Promote quality inspection, testing, and certification to ensure the quality of consumer goods from the raw material side. Carry out international benchmarking and promote the integration of domestic consumer goods standards with international standards.

Carry out actions to enhance the quality of light industry brands, guide the industry in brand creation, protect and inherit Chinese time-honored brands, and play their exemplary and driving role.

Improve the brand service system, support a group of professional service institutions for brand cultivation and brand operation, improve the brand value evaluation system, and host major brand activities such as exhibitions and design competitions. Enhance brand competitiveness and support brand enterprises in innovating business models. Promote brand internationalization and increase the export proportion of brand products.