On the 14th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the operation of the national economy in August 2024. At the meeting, Liu Aihua, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, chief economist, and director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of National Economy, said that from the perspective of industrial production, the equipment manufacturing and consumer goods industries grew rapidly under the influence of policies. At the meeting, a reporter asked: Since the beginning of this year, the State Council has issued a large-scale action plan for equipment updates and consumer goods trade in, and relevant departments have issued supporting policies. May I ask how effective the implementation of these policies is? Has it met expectations? Regarding this, Liu Aihua pointed out that the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year pointed out that we should take improving technology, energy consumption, emissions and other standards as the driving force to promote large-scale equipment updates and consumer goods trade in. In March of this year, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in", which comprehensively and systematically deployed the two new work. At the end of July, relevant departments issued the "Several Measures to Strengthen Support for Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in", further increasing support. Several regions have recently introduced supporting policies. With the continuous expansion and strengthening of policies, the current policy effects continue to be released. Firstly, from the perspective of industrial production, under the influence of policies, the equipment manufacturing and consumer goods industries have experienced rapid growth in production. In August, driven by factors such as equipment updates, the added value of the shipbuilding and related equipment manufacturing industry increased by 23%, the added value of the urban rail transit equipment manufacturing industry increased by 17.1%, the added value of the textile, clothing, and leather processing specialized equipment manufacturing industry increased by 10.5%, and the added value of the communication equipment manufacturing industry increased by 10.3%, all of which were double-digit growth. From a product perspective, the output of food manufacturing machinery products increased by 66% year-on-year, the output of textile specialized equipment products increased by 15.7%, and the output of packaging specialized equipment products increased by 13.5%, all of which have accelerated their growth rates compared to the previous month. Stimulated by factors such as trade in, the added value of consumer goods manufacturing increased by 4.2% year-on-year, slightly accelerating from the previous month. Out of 13 consumer goods industries, 10 achieved year-on-year growth. From the perspective of products, the production of household washing machines involved in relevant policies increased by 7%, the production of smart TVs increased by 6.7%, and the production of household refrigerators increased by 4.7%, all of which achieved rapid growth. From an investment perspective, driven by the large-scale equipment renewal policy, investment in equipment and tools has grown rapidly, playing a significant role in driving investment growth. From January to August, the contribution rate of equipment and tool purchase investment to investment growth reached 64.2%, an increase of 3.5 percentage points from January to July. From the perspective of consumption, driven by the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods, the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment increased from a year-on-year decrease of 2.4% last month to a year-on-year increase of 3.4%. Among them, the retail sales of high-efficiency household appliances achieved double-digit growth. The retail sales of new energy vehicles have grown faster. According to the Automobile Circulation Association, the retail sales of new energy vehicles increased by 43.2% year-on-year in the current month, which is 6.3 percentage points faster than July. The penetration rate of new energy vehicles has reached 53.9%, exceeding 50% for two consecutive months. Liu Aihua said that with the further implementation of the two new policies and the further expansion of policy coverage and awareness, the policy effectiveness is expected to be further improved, which will boost the expansion of domestic demand and promote the growth of new drivers. (New Society)