Changing Prejudices Against Domestic Products—Multiple Forces Help Domestic Instrument Manufacturers Take off

According to statistics, foreign products currently occupy 80% of the domestic liquid chromatography (LC) instrument market. In the field of scientific instruments, the development speed of theory and application often outpaces the development speed of instruments. Because my country's technological research and development started relatively late, many users prefer foreign instruments, which is one reason why many theoretical and applied papers are based on foreign instruments.

Recently, the Xuancheng Municipal Government Procurement Center in Anhui Province organized a public tender for the procurement of instruments for the Xuancheng Environmental Protection Bureau's 2017 soil environmental monitoring capacity building project. Some instruments were required to be "original imports."

The announcement shows that the Xuancheng Environmental Protection Bureau plans to purchase 23 sets of instruments/equipment for 7.79 million RMB, of which 21 instruments, including atomic absorption spectrometers, gas chromatographs, rapid solvent extractors, fully automated graphite digesters, and high-throughput fully automated solid-phase extraction instruments, are all required to be "original imports." In fact, prejudice against domestically produced instruments is not uncommon. In 2016, a local government chose all imported products in a single procurement, which also sparked considerable criticism, but similar situations continue to occur.

According to statistics, foreign products currently occupy 80% of the domestic liquid chromatograph market. In the field of scientific instruments, the development speed of theory and application often outpaces the development speed of instruments. Because my country's technological research and development started relatively late, many users prefer foreign instruments, which is one reason why many theoretical and applied papers are based on foreign instruments. This situation further exacerbates users' prejudice against domestically produced instruments, leading to a blind purchase of foreign products and a large influx of low-end foreign instruments into the domestic market, inhibiting the development of excellent domestic instruments and creating a vicious cycle.

Admittedly, there is still a certain gap between my country's instrumentation and international advanced levels, but imported instruments are not irreplaceable. In the past decade, domestically produced instruments have made a qualitative leap. my country's instrumentation industry has initially formed a relatively complete product range, with a certain production scale and development capabilities, becoming the second largest instrumentation producer in Asia after Japan. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, 5 billion yuan was invested in major special projects, leveraging more than 5 billion yuan in social investment to jointly support and encourage the development of scientific instruments. In 2014, the revenue of domestic instrument manufacturers increased by 18.10%, and profits by 15.28%. Compared to the global instrumentation industry's growth rate of 3% to 4%, the rapid development of my country's instrumentation industry is evident.

With the support of Chinese policies, the gap between domestic manufacturers and foreign products in terms of price, quality, and performance is gradually narrowing, and domestic products can completely replace imported equipment in most fields. However, many users still hold the outdated view that "domestic instruments are backward," leading to difficulties in promoting domestic products.

In response, relevant institutions and organizations within the industry are striving to promote the industrialization of domestic instruments. On March 28th, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission organized a media promotion conference for "Verification and Comprehensive Evaluation Services for Domestic Scientific Instruments." The evaluation projects select domestic instruments with technological competitiveness and good market prospects for evaluation. Priority is given to comparing the functions and performance of some instruments with imported instruments in four areas: analytical instruments, physical performance testing instruments, metrological instruments, and electronic measuring instruments. The aim is to first launch a batch of excellent domestic scientific instruments that can replace imports and break the monopoly in areas with a strong foundation.

Not long ago, the China Military Industry Association and the China Instrument and Control Society signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement, establishing a working-level cooperation mechanism. Starting with six major categories of testing instruments and equipment, including electronic measuring instruments, metrological instruments, and physical, chemical, and non-destructive testing equipment, they conducted a comprehensive review and in-depth research on the development of the domestic testing instrument and equipment industry, compiling the first batch of excellent domestic testing instrument and equipment supplier directories and a list of high-end military instrument and equipment needs.

All parties are integrating resources to provide a favorable market environment for my country's instrument and equipment industry. Domestic enterprises should strive to improve their own strength, focus on core technology research and development, reject price wars and superficial work, and calmly and meticulously refine every component of the instruments, thereby truly realizing the leapfrog development of domestically produced instruments and equipment.