BEIJING — Chinese authorities on Dec 29 unveiled a plan to facilitate the development of the country's raw materials industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

By 2025, a new development pattern for China's raw materials sector that features higher quality, better profitability and distribution, low carbon, and more security will take shape, said the plan. It was issued jointly by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and two other government bodies.

The sector will become a highland for the research and development, production, and application of the world's vital raw materials. The industrial system will be safe, independent, and controllable, the plan said.

Including steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, and new materials sub-sectors, the raw materials sector has long served as the bedrock for the real economy.

Official data showed the industrial output of China's raw materials sector in 2020 accounted for 27.4 percent of all sectors.

The plan also called for efforts to promote a digital and green shift in the raw materials sector. The production capacity for bulk commodities such as crude steel and cement should not increase, with the industrial-capacity utilization rate kept at a reasonable level.