Johnson Controls sanguine about nation's economy

Johnson Controls is bullish about China's economic outlook and the company sees a number of growth opportunities, including green development and advanced manufacturing, arising from the country's pursuit of new quality productive forces, the US-based smart building solutions provider said.

Expressing his strong confidence about China's economic prospects, Anu Rathninde, president of Johnson Controls Asia-Pacific, said China's economy will likely expand by around 5 percent to hit its annual growth target this year.

He said the country is transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development.

"China's growth rate may be slowing down a bit, but it remains a very large economy; and the retrofit part of the business will provide tremendous opportunities," Rathninde said. "So, I'm very optimistic about the Chinese economy and opportunities in China."

At present, China's economy is in a stage of transformation of growth drivers toward new quality productive forces.

Although policymakers have introduced a wide range of stimulus policies to prop up the real estate sector, the country aims to prevent a free-fall in home prices and home sales, rather than making the traditional economic driver a strong pillar again, said Darius Tang, associate director of corporates at ratings agency Fitch Bohua.

Investments in China's property sector fell 10.1 percent in the first six months of 2024 from a year earlier, while the sales area of new properties slumped 19 percent year-on-year in the first half, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

While the economy is facing pressure from property woes, Rathninde said fresh growth drivers such as new energy and advanced manufacturing are booming.

According to the NBS, China's new energy vehicle production jumped 34.3 percent year-on-year during the January-June period, while investment in high-tech manufacturing surged 10.1 percent from a year earlier.

"The Chinese government is focused on promoting green development and building advanced manufacturing capability. These are some of the areas where our products and solutions are really coming in to fit the growth strategies and our customer needs," Rathninde added.

Citing the country's goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality before 2060, he said around 40 percent of carbon emissions are from buildings; therefore, decarbonizing buildings will be key to achieving China's dual-carbon goals and fostering green, sustainable development.

Rathninde said Johnson Controls is committed to making buildings smarter, healthier and more sustainable, which is in line with China's green and digitalization development strategy.

"As the Chinese economy continues to grow, there are a lot of people still wanting to come to the cities to live. The city is going to have more buildings. There has to be more production and more growth," he said. "To achieve the dual-carbon goals, we need to reduce the carbon of the existing buildings as well by upgrading with new equipment that is efficient and digitally connected."

Johnson Controls, which has been present in China for the last 30 years, has 10 manufacturing plants, three research and development centers and around 8,300 employees in the country.

Rathninde hailed China's ongoing efforts to deepen reforms and expand opening-up, saying "As China's economy grows, the foreign enterprises grow and benefit equally".

"China has done a lot to create a better business environment for domestic players and their foreign counterparts, including shortening the negative list for foreign investments," he said. "We wouldn't have been as successful as we are today if that business environment didn't allow us to grow, which is a testimony of support that we get from the government and the business environment."

According to him, China is one of the most important markets for Johnson Controls and the company will continue to enlarge its footprint in the market.

"We will continue to expand our manufacturing and R&D capabilities. That's our commitment to China — to do business in China and grow as the Chinese market grows," he added.