The industry is undergoing a rapid reshuffle, with leading enterprises taking the lead in the high-end market, and 15% of the low-end production capacity will exit the historical stage.
Since the implementation of CCC certification for flame-retardant wire and cable on July 1, 2025, has come for three months, the domestic cable market is experiencing an unprecedented structural transformation. This certification system, which is called "the strictest ever" by the industry, sets strict safety and environmental protection thresholds, not only effectively curbing the circulation of inferior products, but also promoting the market to shift from "price competition" to "value competition". The differentiation between leading enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises is becoming increasingly evident.
Under the certification threshold, the "Malthusian effect" in the market continues to intensify. According to the latest data from the China Quality Certification Center, currently, only 2,300 cable production enterprises in China hold CCC certification. Although the proportion of enterprises with the production capacity of flame-retardant products has increased by 18 percentage points to 67% compared to 2018, the industry concentration is rapidly rising. A relevant person from Hengtong Optoelectronics disclosed that the company's certified products have a winning rate of 22% in real estate projects compared to last year, especially in the green building sector, as they meet B-level or above flame-retardant standards, the order volume has increased by 35%. In sharp contrast, about 15% of small and medium-sized enterprises lacking certification capabilities are facing survival difficulties, and some have stopped the production lines of flame-retardant cables and turned to ordinary cables or exited the market.
The regional industrial layout presents new characteristics, and the cluster effect is prominent. Guangdong Province, as the certification enterprise gathering area, has 378 enterprises obtaining flame-retardant wire certification, accounting for 28.4% of the national total. It continues to lead the national market. At the same time, the central and western regions are accelerating their rise, with a research and development cluster centered in Wuhan and a manufacturing base centered in Chengdu gradually taking shape. Local enterprises, leveraging the policy advantage of increasing the utilization rate of recycled copper to 35%, occupy a cost advantage in the mid-to-low-end certification market. This "eastern high-end leading, western-central coordinated supporting" pattern has promoted the formation of 35 billion-yuan-level cable industrial clusters, achieving full-chain supporting from copper rod processing to cable manufacturing.
The product structure is upgrading to green and high-end, and environmentally friendly cables have become the growth main force. CCC certification includes environmental protection indicators such as smoke density and toxic gas release in mandatory testing, which has led to a 21.3% increase in the proportion of new environmentally friendly flame-retardant material products to 43.6% by 2025, with a market size exceeding 128 billion yuan. The 110kV cable special material developed by Sinopec Maoming Base passed international certification and was quickly applied to ultra-high voltage projects, driving the high-voltage cable market size to be expected to reach 60 billion yuan in 2025, accounting for more than 25% of the industry's total output value. In the construction field, the proportion of public buildings using B-level or above flame-retardant cables has reached 92.7%, an increase of nearly 35 percentage points compared to 2020, and CCC-certified cables have changed from "optional" to "mandatory" in household decoration.
The export market faces new challenges and opportunities. After the implementation of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), cables exported to Europe need to bear additional high carbon costs, forcing enterprises to accelerate green transformation. Headline enterprises avoid trade barriers through global layout. The copper rod factory of Hengtong Optoelectronics in Egypt has started production and covers 60% of the raw material demand in Africa. Its certified products have increased their market share in the Southeast Asian market to 35%. Industry data shows that the export volume of flame-retardant cables is expected to exceed 8 billion US dollars in 2025, becoming the core driving force for cable export growth. Experts from the Wire and Cable Branch of the China Electrical Equipment Industry Association pointed out that the long-term value of the CCC certification lies in standardizing market order and promoting the industry's transformation from scale expansion to quality improvement. With the in-depth implementation of special inspections by regulatory authorities starting from October, products without certification will completely exit the market. It is expected that by the end of 2025, the market share of certified cable products will exceed 95%, and industry competition will focus on the competition in terms of technological innovation and green manufacturing capabilities.
