If steel and cement are the foundation of traditional industries, then new materials are undoubtedly the cornerstone of emerging industries. New materials have more excellent new properties and new functions than traditional materials, and are closely related to information, energy, medical and health, transportation, construction and other industries.

The recent executive meeting of the State Council listed new materials as one of the seven strategic emerging industries. With the development of emerging high-tech industries such as information, biology, aerospace, and nuclear technology and the high-tech of traditional materials, many people believe that China's new material industry will enter the fast lane in the future.

In fact, the international competition in the emerging materials industry has begun and is becoming increasingly fierce. The United States, Japan, Germany and other developed countries are formulating and improving the development plan of new material industry. Public data show that in the past 10 years, the industrial value of the world's new materials industry has grown at an annual rate of about 30%. At present, the market size of various new materials in the world has exceeded 400 billion US dollars, and the new products and technologies driven by this are a larger market.

In recent years, China has also given strong support to the new material industry, and a relatively complete new material industry system has been initially formed.

In 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission decided to focus on the development needs of key industries in 7 cities, focusing on electronic information materials, aerospace materials, new energy materials, environmental protection and energy-saving materials, etc., to build a national high-tech industrial base for the new material industry. By the end of 2009, China's regional new material industry base has reached 88.

Under the background of "adjusting structure" and "changing mode", emerging industries have also become a hot spot of market investment. Since the market rebounded in July this year, shares of listed companies related to emerging materials have soared.

Data show that there are 72 A- share new materials listed companies. As of September 9, 67 companies had increased by more than 10%, accounting for 93% of the total; Beikeng Magnetics, Baotou Steel Rare Earth and Hengdian Dongshi increased by more than 100; Xiamen Tungsten, Taiyuan Corundum and Sinosteel Tianyuan rose by more than 90%; Zhongke Sanhuan, Zhongse shares, Jinrui Technology rose by more than 70%.

As part of the support for strategic emerging industries, the new material industry is expected to receive further new support in terms of finance, finance, taxation, and investment in science and technology in the future, and China's new material industry will usher in a period of rapid growth.

However, a sobering reality is that the development of new materials industry is very important for China to become a world manufacturing power, and the overall level of "made in China" is still at the low end of the international industrial chain. At present, the output of many basic raw materials and industrial products in China ranks among the top in the world, but high-performance materials, core components and major equipment are heavily dependent on imports, and key technologies are controlled by people. Whether it is to promote key projects such as large aircraft, high-speed trains, and electric vehicles, or to develop important industries such as electronic information, energy conservation and environmental protection, China is facing a series of key material technology breakthroughs.

In addition, the shortcomings of China's new material industry are also manifested in the small scale of enterprises and the "common problems" of other types of high-tech enterprises: poor financing channels, unsatisfactory integration of production, education and research, and so on. Reports show that more than 80% of China's new materials enterprises are small and medium-sized. Among the 1300 new materials enterprises in Beijing, there are only about 10 listed companies.

At the same time, because they are optimistic about the development potential of China's new material market, international material giants have adjusted their strategic layout in China. Multinational companies such as DuPont, Bayer, and BASF have increased their investment to seek their development opportunities in China.
In the context of fierce competition, it is increasingly urgent to break the obstacles on the "fast lane" of the new material industry as soon as possible, and accelerate the transformation of China's new material industry from a low-level to a high-level development stage in the international industrial layout.

The potential space for the development of China's new material industry is huge. As a leader in high-tech, new materials can only achieve the status of China's new energy, new energy vehicles, energy conservation and environmental protection and other strategic emerging industries in the world.