Rising sales of green products meet big demand

With robust annual sales growth of nearly 30 percent, China's environmental protection industry products may reach 570 billion yuan ($91.3 billion) in total value by 2015, according to an official report released on Tuesday.

The fourth national survey on the industry, co-authored by experts from the Environmental Protection Ministry, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Bureau of Statistics, said that sales of environmental protection products in 2011 was almost 200 billion yuan, about five times that of 2004.

Xu Shufan, deputy head of the science, technology and standards department of the Environmental Protection Ministry, said the report aims to present a clear picture of the industry at the start of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

The report is the fourth in a series compiled over the past 20 years, with previous versions published in 1993, 2000 and 2004.

Xu said the ministry will collect and analyze data on a yearly basis to produce a follow-up report in the future.

Tuesday's report shows that more than 80 percent of environmental protection products in 2011 targeted either airborne pollution or water pollution, with the water products representing a slight majority.

"This situation may have changed in the past two years, with airborne pollution control becoming the hottest topic," Xu said. "Before 2011, when we talked about pollution control, in most of the cases we referred only to water pollution."

Sales of products dealing with soil pollution prevention and control accounted for less than 10 percent of all products. But Xu said with the growing attention on arable land quality, soil pollution control products will develop much better in the future.

He added that, overall, the country's environmental protection industry can meet the public's most urgent needs. "But the industry still needs more investment from the market, rather than simply waiting for governmental investment," he said.

wuwencong@chinadaily.com.cn