China’s drone industry crossed the CNY100 billion mark for the first time last year, as market expansion into areas such as low-altitude logistics helped drive domestic demand. The industry’s annual output reached CNY117 billion last year, up more than 34% from CNY87 billion in 2021, according to Yang Jincai, Chairman of the Shenzhen Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Industry Association, in his presentation at the 7th Drone World Congress that was held from June 2 to 4, 2023, in Shenzhen. The number of drone-related enterprises in the country increased to more than 15,000 at the end of last year, a 25% increase from 12,000 in 2021. Registered drones in China totaled 95,000 in 2022.
The industry has expanded in recent years, thanks to a combination of factors. Those include a lockdown-induced, no-contact delivery trend that deployed unmanned drones during the Covid-19 pandemic; Beijing’s policy to boost adoption of low-altitude logistics nationwide; and increased competition among domestic courier companies to use drones for parcel deliveries amid rising labor costs. The growth also underscored the industry’s resilience in the face of U.S. trade sanctions, which included the blacklisting of DJI Technology Co, the world's largest manufacturer of consumer drones, in October 2022. Southern tech hub Shenzhen – home to DJI – saw the number of drone companies based in the city decrease to 1,300 last year, down from 1,500 in 2021. These firms’ total output last year, however, climbed to CNY75 billion, compared to CNY60 billion a year earlier. Shenzhen accounted for more than 70% of the world’s consumer drones and 50% of industrial drones as of the middle of last year.
Beijing’s plans to shore up the country’s transport network paved the way for developing a strategy to make use of low-altitude airspace. In 2022, the Civil Aviation Administration’s 14th Five Year Plan to develop aviation logistics promoted the deployment of delivery drones to build up the country’s logistics infrastructure. Chinese Big Tech companies including e-commerce services provider JD.com, food delivery firm Meituan and logistics firm SF Express have unmanned vehicle delivery programs in the country, the South China Morning Post reports.
