Global Market Overview of the Low-Voltage Electrical Appliances Industry in 2024

1. Analysis of China's Import and Export Data of Low-Voltage Electrical Appliances in 2024

(I) Total Import and Export Volume and Growth Rate

In 2024, China's total import and export volume of low-voltage electrical appliances reached $34.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. Among this, exports amounted to $22.32 billion, up 7.2% year-on-year, while imports were $11.88 billion, down 0.7% year-on-year. The trade surplus stood at $10.43 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.9%. From 2015 to 2024, the import and export volume of low-voltage electrical appliances showed a fluctuating upward trend. However, affected by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and global geopolitical instability, the volume fluctuated significantly between 2020 and 2023, with a volatility range exceeding $7 billion. In 2024, global foreign trade stopped declining and recovered, but China's import and export volume of low-voltage electrical appliances still did not return to the highest level in the past decade.

Over the past decade, China's export volume of low-voltage electrical appliances has shown an obvious overall growth trend, with an increase of 62% in ten years, maintaining steady growth except for a brief fluctuation in 2023. In contrast, import volume has declined significantly since 2021, with a drop of 31.6% by 2024.

(II) Main Export Products

In terms of export structure, the export volume of segmented products is ranked as follows: connectors (44.9%), plugs, sockets, and lamp holders (16.7%), switches (14.1%), relays (7.9%), automatic circuit breakers (7.3%), other circuit protection devices (4.4%), optical fibers (3%), and fuses (1.7%). Among the eight categories of low-voltage electrical products, seven achieved year-on-year growth in export volume. Among them, connectors, fuses, and automatic circuit breakers showed strong growth momentum, with year-on-year increases of 10.8%, 11.4%, and 8.9% respectively.

1.Automatic Circuit Breakers
In 2024, China's exports of automatic circuit breakers reached $1.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%. The main exporting provinces and cities were Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Jiangsu, with key destinations including Brazil (8%) and Russia (7.7%). Automatic circuit breakers are the only product among the eight categories that have maintained continuous export growth for the past three years.

2.Other Circuit Protection Devices
Other circuit protection devices mainly include surge protectors, overcurrent protection devices, and leakage protection devices. In 2024, China's exports of these devices reached $990 million, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%. The main exporting provinces and cities were Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, with the United States (14.9%) and Hong Kong, China (11.5%) as the primary destinations.

(III) Distribution of Exporting Provinces and Cities

Benefiting from the industrial cluster effect, China's exports of low-voltage electrical appliances are mainly concentrated in coastal provinces and cities in the southeast. In 2024, Guangdong Province ranked first with $7.25 billion in exports, mainly exporting connectors, switches, optical fibers, relays with voltage ≤ 36V, and other circuit protection devices. Zhejiang Province followed with $5.02 billion in exports, being a strong province in the industry, with main products including plugs, sockets, lamp holders, automatic circuit breakers, and relays. In 2024, all the top 10 exporting provinces and cities achieved year-on-year growth in export volume, with Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region leading with a remarkable growth rate of 27.3%.

(IV) Main Import Products

In 2024, the import structure of China's low-voltage electrical appliances showed that imports of optical fibers and similar products increased by 63.4% year-on-year, performing prominently. Other major imported products included connectors, switches, and relays, but the overall import volume decreased by 0.7% year-on-year.

(V) Key Trading Partners

• In terms of export markets, China's key export destinations for low-voltage electrical appliances are as follows: Hong Kong, China (14.2%), the United States (12.2%), Vietnam (8%), Germany (4.2%), Mexico (3.9%), Taiwan, China (3.8%), India (3.7%), Japan (3.5%), Russia (2.9%), and Thailand (2.7%). Among these, markets in Vietnam, Mexico, Taiwan, China, India, and Thailand showed significant growth momentum, with year-on-year export increases of 23%, 25.6%, 34.1%, 13.3%, and 27.8% respectively. However, exports to Japan and Russia faced obstacles, with year-on-year declines of 20.1% and 19.8% respectively.
• In 2024, emerging markets brought significant new opportunities for the overseas expansion of low-voltage electrical products. Vietnam's rapid economic growth and advancing infrastructure construction, especially in electricity, industry, and construction, have driven sustained demand for low-voltage electrical appliances. As a key member of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico has strong demand in automotive manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure, with growing industrial demand driven by U.S. manufacturing reshoring and regional economic cooperation. India, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, has accelerating industrialization and urbanization, creating huge demand for power infrastructure, particularly in smart grids, new energy, and industrial automation. Thailand, an industrial and economic hub in Southeast Asia, boasts developed automotive, electronics, and energy industries. Its "Thailand 4.0" strategy, focusing on high-tech and green economy, offers opportunities for the low-voltage electrical industry in data centers, smart grids, and new energy. These countries, characterized by accelerating industrialization, urbanization, and strong infrastructure demand, have become key potential markets for China's low-voltage electrical appliance exports.

• China's main sources of low-voltage electrical appliance imports are Japan, Germany, South Korea, the United States, Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Thailand, France, and Malaysia. It is worth noting that low-voltage electrical appliances imported through China's bonded areas, closely related to processing trade, account for 20.5% of the total imports.

2. Analysis of the Foreign Trade Market Environment for the Low-Voltage Electrical Appliances Industry

(I) Increasing Uncertainty in the International Political Environment

In 2024, the uncertain international political environment significantly impacted the foreign trade of the low-voltage electrical appliances industry. On one hand, geopolitical conflicts and the complexity of major-country relations increased the instability of trade policies. In particular, fluctuations in China-U.S. relations and the continued impact of U.S. trade protectionism exposed low-voltage electrical appliance exports to higher trade barriers and policy risks. On the other hand, the uneven global economic recovery led to volatile market demand. Although emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and India have growth potential, they are also constrained by regional political instability and economic fluctuations. Additionally, affected by Western sanctions and secondary sanctions against Russia, many enterprises withdrew from the Russian market. While China's exports of low-voltage electrical appliances to Russia surged in 2023 to fill the market gap, most Sino-Russian payment and settlement services were suspended in 2024, and payment collection issues severely disrupted business transactions, leading to a sharp decline in exports to Russia. However, uncertainty in the international political environment also brought opportunities, such as the rise of emerging markets under the Belt and Road Initiative and China's active promotion of multilateral cooperation in international affairs, providing new avenues for the industry to expand overseas markets.

(II) Domestic Policy Support

In recent years, the Chinese government has introduced a series of policies to promote the development of the low-voltage electrical appliances industry from multiple aspects, including technological innovation, industrial upgrading, energy conservation and emission reduction, and internationalization. The 14th Five-Year Plan for Modern Energy System and 14th Five-Year Plan for Electric Power Development have driven the industry toward intelligence, energy efficiency, and environmental friendliness, promoting the application of high-end products in smart grids and new energy. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of High-Quality Manufacturing Enterprises and Made in China 2025 have supported enterprises in technological innovation and brand building, accelerating the process of domestic substitution. The Action Plan for the Development of Basic Electronic Components Industry (2021-2023) has promoted the localization of core components, enhancing the overall competitiveness of the industry. Policies related to the "dual carbon" goals, environmental regulations, and energy efficiency standards have accelerated the transformation of low-voltage electrical appliances toward greenization and high efficiency, driving market demand in new energy. The Intelligent Manufacturing Special Project has promoted the industry's intelligent transformation to meet the needs of industrial automation and smart grids. These policies have not only advanced technological progress and product upgrading in the industry but also provided broad market space and development opportunities. The industry will continue to develop toward intelligence, greenization, and internationalization in the future.

(III) Unexpected Growth in Demand for Low-Voltage Power Quality in Data Centers

With the widespread application of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, IoT, big data analytics, vehicle networking, vehicle-road-cloud integration, intelligent driving, and AI robots, industries have an increasingly urgent demand for data storage, processing, and computing capabilities. Data centers have become increasingly important, with expanding construction scales. The stable operation of data centers highly depends on reliable and stable power supply, making power distribution equipment a core component. As computing power demand grows, the number of data center devices increases, placing higher requirements on the capacity and performance of power distribution equipment. The power distribution system of data centers covers multiple links, including distribution transformers, high and low-voltage switchgear, power quality management equipment, busbars, building HVAC-controls-DCIM, UPS-precision cooling, diesel generator systems, and Automatic Transfer switch systems. According to Gezhi Zhisheng, the overall market size of China's data center electrical products reached 25 billion yuan in 2024.

(IV) Domestic Products Are Comparable to International Brands in Basic Performance with Significant Cost-Effectiveness Advantages

Low-voltage electrical appliances play a key role in protecting and controlling power systems, requiring reliable operation under extreme conditions (e.g., overload, short circuit, and high temperature). China's low-voltage electrical products are comparable to international brands in basic performance, with key indicators such as insulation voltage, rated impulse withstand voltage, and breaking capacity approaching or reaching international levels. In terms of cost-effectiveness, domestic products are significantly cheaper than international brands, usually only 30%-50% of the price of international brands, achieving a good balance between performance and price. By increasing R&D investment, promoting the localization of core components, and obtaining international certifications (e.g., UL, CE), domestic enterprises have gradually improved their technical level and market competitiveness. These advantages have enabled domestic low-voltage electrical products to gain wide recognition in domestic and foreign markets with their competitive prices and services while meeting high-performance requirements.

(V) Development of Upstream and Downstream Industries

Cost Pressure from Rising Prices of Upstream Raw Materials
The upstream of the low-voltage electrical appliance industry chain includes manufacturers of metal materials, plastics, and components. In 2024, significant fluctuations in the prices of bulk raw materials such as copper and silver increased procurement costs for low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises, compressing profit margins. Copper prices showed high volatility: starting at 69,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year, peaking at a historical high of 87,200 yuan/ton in the middle of the year, then falling due to demand suppression and macroeconomic factors, and stabilizing at around 75,100 yuan/ton by the end of the year, a year-on-year increase of 10.49% compared to 2023. Silver prices showed an oscillating upward trend, rising from 5,967.33 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year to 7,450 yuan/kg at the end of the year, an annual increase of 24.85%. In terms of electronic components, with the acceleration of localization, the supply stability of core components such as chips and sensors has improved, but high-end products still rely on imports, and technical barriers and cost pressures remain. Demand for plastics and high-performance materials has grown with stricter environmental regulations, driving the R&D and application of green materials.

Stable Basic Demand in Downstream Markets and Obvious Demand in Emerging Fields
(1) In recent years, with China's promotion of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, clean energy has developed rapidly, and power investment has accelerated, boosting the overall prosperity of the power industry. As core components of low-voltage power distribution systems, low-voltage electrical appliances are widely used in industrial, agricultural, and residential electricity sectors. They perform functions such as circuit switching, protection, and control, serving as key equipment for step-down and distribution of electricity to end-users, effectively supporting the efficient operation of low-voltage power distribution systems and driving basic demand in the power industry.

(2) With the continuous application of IoT, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, the rapid growth of demand for intelligent power distribution and new energy has put forward higher technical requirements for the low-voltage electrical appliance industry, promoting comprehensive upgrading. In terms of product intelligence, low-voltage electrical appliances are gradually developing toward smart circuit breakers and remote monitoring systems, integrating IoT and artificial intelligence to achieve real-time monitoring, fault diagnosis, and remote control. In energy conservation and environmental protection, the industry is accelerating the R&D of high-efficiency and energy-saving products, promoting green manufacturing, and developing products adapted to new energy fields such as photovoltaic and wind power. In technological innovation, the localization of core components, application of new materials, and introduction of digital technologies have improved product performance and reliability. These upgrades have not only enhanced the performance and market competitiveness of China's low-voltage electrical products but also laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the industry.

3. Suggestions for the Foreign Trade Development of China's Low-Voltage Electrical Appliances Industry

(I) Strengthen Technological Innovation and Product R&D

Low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises should continuously increase R&D investment, focusing on the development of intelligent, green, and high-performance products. On one hand, integrate cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence to upgrade intelligent products like smart circuit breakers and remote monitoring systems, meeting the needs of high-end markets such as data centers and smart grids. On the other hand, accelerate the R&D of green and energy-saving products, adapt to new energy fields such as photovoltaic and wind power, and assist in achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals. Additionally, enterprises should strengthen cooperation with universities and research institutions, establish industry-academia-research collaboration mechanisms, accelerate the localization of core components, break through technical bottlenecks in high-end products, and enhance the overall technical level and international competitiveness of the industry.

(II) Optimize Market Layout and Expand Emerging Markets

Against the backdrop of uneven global economic recovery and uncertain international political environment, low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises need to optimize their market layout and reduce reliance on traditional markets. Consolidate and deepen cooperation with emerging markets in Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East, seize opportunities from accelerating infrastructure construction and industrialization in these regions, and expand market share. Actively explore markets along the Belt and Road, leveraging policy support and regional cooperation advantages to promote product exports. Additionally, pay attention to the demand for high-end products in developed markets such as Europe and the United States, improve product quality and certification levels, gradually break technical barriers, and increase shares in mid-to-high-end markets.

(III) Improve Supply Chain Management

Facing fluctuating raw material prices and unstable supply, low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises should strengthen supply chain management and optimize procurement strategies. Establish long-term and stable cooperative relationships with upstream suppliers, ensure stable raw material supply, and reduce procurement costs through long-term contracts and strategic reserves. Promote digital transformation of the supply chain, use big data and artificial intelligence to optimize inventory management, and improve supply chain transparency and response speed. Meanwhile, strengthen internal management, optimize production processes, reduce production costs, and enhance product cost-effectiveness.

(IV) Strengthen Brand Building and International Market Promotion

Brands are one of the core competencies of enterprises in the international market. Low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises should strengthen brand building to enhance brand awareness and reputation. Participate in internationally renowned exhibitions and hold technical exchanges to showcase technical strength and product advantages, and establish a good brand image. Utilize emerging channels such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas social media to expand international market promotion and increase brand exposure in the global market. Strengthen after-sales service network construction, provide timely and efficient technical support and after-sales services, and enhance customer loyalty.

(V) Enhance International Cooperation and Exchanges

In the context of globalization, low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises should strengthen international cooperation and exchanges to jointly address uncertainties in the international trade environment. Actively participate in the formulation of international standards, enhance China's voice in international standards for the low-voltage electrical appliance industry, and promote the alignment of domestic standards with international standards. Cooperate with internationally renowned enterprises through technical cooperation, joint R&D, and overseas investment to introduce advanced technologies and management experience, and improve the internationalization level of enterprises. Additionally, pay attention to changes in the international political and economic situation, strengthen communication and collaboration with industry associations and chambers of commerce, promptly obtain policy information and market dynamics, and jointly respond to trade frictions and market risks.

(VI) Promote Digital Transformation of the Industry

With the rapid development of the digital economy, the low-voltage electrical appliance industry should accelerate digital transformation to improve operational efficiency and market competitiveness. Use industrial internet and big data analytics to realize intelligent monitoring and management of production processes, and improve production efficiency and product quality. Establish digital marketing platforms, integrate online and offline resources, optimize customer experience, and enhance market response speed. Strengthen data security management and intellectual property protection to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises during digital transformation.

(VII) Strengthen Talent Cultivation and Introduction

Technological innovation and industrial upgrading are inseparable from high-quality talent teams. Low-voltage electrical appliance enterprises should strengthen talent cultivation and introduction, building a team covering technical R&D, marketing, international business, and supply chain management. Improve the professional skills and comprehensive quality of existing employees through internal training, academic exchanges, and practical training. Actively introduce high-end talents and innovation teams to inject new vitality into enterprise development. Strengthen cooperation with universities and vocational colleges, establish talent training bases, and provide more professional talents for the industry.

In 2024, China's low-voltage electrical appliance industry achieved remarkable results in foreign trade but also faced many challenges and uncertainties. To promote the sustained and healthy development of the industry, enterprises are advised to strengthen technological innovation and product R&D capabilities to enhance product added value and market competitiveness; actively expand business in emerging markets to reduce risks from over-reliance on a single market; and strengthen international cooperation and exchanges to jointly address uncertainties in the international trade environment.