China Issues 13th Five Year Plan for the Building Materials Industry

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published the Building Materials Industry Development Plan (2016-2020) to direct the development of the building materials industry for the 13 th Five Year period (2016-2020). With a target of no less than 8% of average industrial added value growth rate for the next five years, the Plan calls for optimizing industrial structure by the following means: (1) resolving overcapacity problem in traditional building materials industries including cement and sheet glass; (2) accelerating the upgrade of traditional industries; (3) expanding emerging industries such as glass-based materials, industrial ceramics, intraocular lens, high-performance fibers and composites, and graphene and modified materials; and (4) developing producer services industries. The Plan also gives priority to innovation, environmental protection, industrialization and information technology, and international cooperation. As implementation measures, the Plan calls for the connection between the industrial policy and relevant policies including government funding, taxation, financial, pricing, energy, and environmental protection policies, and support for capital to participate in the M&A and restructuring of building materials enterprises through various means including lending.