Industry news

On August 18, China's Ministry of Commerce, together with eight other agencies, published the Opinions on Further Activating the Lower-Tier Market and Boosting County-Level Consumption. The document reads like a typical consumption stimulus package, but anyone in the refrigeration and HVAC trade will spot it for what it is: a quiet but substantial policy opening for the industry.

Here is the starting point. County-level cold chain infrastructure has long suffered from what the industry calls "enough capacity, low quality, poor efficiency." Fewer than 15% of existing small and mid-sized cold stores have been digitally retrofitted. Energy consumption per unit volume runs 18–25% above the industry benchmark. And older high-GWP refrigerants — R404A and R507 in particular — are still widespread. In the past, a cold store owner weighed the electricity savings and usually shelved the project for another year.

The new document explicitly lists origin warehouses, field-side pre-cooling, joint procurement and distribution centers, and cold-chain storage facilities as supported targets. Stack that on top of the agricultural equipment loan subsidies and the "fifteenth five-year" carbon-peaking plan's requirement to retrofit existing cold stores in phases, and the math changes. Retrofitting a county cold store is no longer just about cutting utility bills — it now qualifies for subsidized loans, special-purpose bonds and green credit. Variable-frequency screw compressors replacing piston units, CO2 or ammonia natural refrigerants replacing R404A, AI-driven on-demand defrosting and refrigerant leak monitoring: all of this shifts from "nice-to-have" to baseline specification in county-level cold chain projects.

Heat pumps get an equally direct lift. The document's calls for green smart appliances in rural areas, services for the elderly and children, and the integration of business, agriculture and tourism map neatly onto the three big heat pump scenarios in county towns: combined cooling and heating for rural supermarkets and fresh-food stores, hot water and heating for township clinics and care homes, and comfort conditioning for guesthouses and rural tourism. The NDRC's 2025 action plan already required full diagnostics and phased retirement of heat pumps over ten years old. This new document pushes distribution down to the county and township level, effectively extending the heat pump replacement battlefield from the northern coal-to-electricity program and urban complexes to the vast stock-replacement market below the city tier. Established brands actually sell better in county towns than in first-tier cities: the buyers there want long-term reliability and low maintenance, and long-warranty commitments hit exactly that nerve.

Distribution logic is shifting too. With support for multi-address business licenses, chain brands expanding downward, and platforms cutting merchant commissions in county markets, refrigeration contractors and heat pump service firms can now ride the wave together with chain stores, fresh-food fulfillment centers and supply-and-marketing cooperatives. The business model moves from selling single machines to selling compact integrated packages — cold storage plus heat pump plus smart temperature control. That is precisely the delivery format county customers lack and are most willing to pay for.

For commercial kitchen and food-service refrigeration manufacturers, this policy window is an opportunity as well. Chain restaurants are moving into county towns, and kitchen cooling, ice-making and cold-display equipment must follow. The cold-chain upgrade will release a steady stream of demand across supermarkets, restaurants and food processing. As the saying in this industry goes: if you cannot read the policy, follow the money. Over the next 12 to 18 months, county cold store renewals, township heat pump replacements and green refrigeration retrofits for rural supermarkets will cluster into a wave of orders. Whoever packages low-GWP refrigerants, smart controls and long-term warranties into a payback story county customers can actually understand will capture this round of down-market dividends.