Imports of incandescent lamps above 100 watts are banned from this month

On the 17th, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced in Beijing the official implementation of the “China's roadmap for phase-out of incandescent lamps” and banned the import and sale of incandescent lamps of 100 watts and above from this month. According to the road map, the incandescent lamp will completely exit the Chinese market by 2016.

Large space for energy saving and emission reduction

Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced on the 17th that China is a major producer of lighting products, supplying more than 30% incandescent lamps and 85% energy-saving lamps to the global market. Lighting power in China accounts for about 13% of total electricity consumption in the society. If we replace all of the 1.4 billion incandescent lamps in use in China with energy-saving lamps, we can save 48 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, which is equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 48 million tons per year. This has great potential for energy saving and emission reduction.

According to the phase-out plan of incandescent lamps in China, starting from October 1, 2014, China will ban the import and sale of incandescent lamps with general lighting of 60 watts and above, and ban the import and sale of general lighting of 15 watts and above from October 1, 2016. Incandescent, or adjusted depending on the results of the mid-term evaluation.

Hard business transformation

The roadmap issued by the government means for the company an industrial adjustment.

Yesterday, relevant officials of the National Development and Reform Commission introduced the Beijing News reporter. Since the road map was announced last year, many companies have begun to transition to the direction of energy-saving lamps. In order to promote energy-saving lamps, the government also provided financial subsidies for bidding for energy-saving lamp products.

According to a recent Jiangsu media report, Xiao Yongqiang, secretary-general of the Jiangsu Provincial Lighting Association, said that the annual sales of fluorescent lamps in Jiangsu Province is about 650 million, and that of incandescent lamps is about 200 million, of which more than 100 watts is 40%.

He said that since the ban was announced last year, some companies have reduced their production capacity and some have switched to other products. Among them, more than a dozen companies that produce incandescent lamps faced difficulties in survival due to sluggish external demand, internal bans, and rising labor costs.