Beijing, December 24, 2025 — China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) have officially released the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2025 Edition) (the “2025 Catalogue”). The new Catalogue will come into effect on February 1, 2026, and serves as China’s primary policy instrument for guiding foreign investment into priority sectors and regions.
The 2025 update represents a substantial expansion of encouraged industries, underscoring China’s continued commitment to high-level opening-up, industrial upgrading, and sustainable development. Compared with the 2022 version, the Catalogue records a net increase of 205 items, bringing the total to 1,679 encouraged items across the National and Regional catalogues.
Key Policy Highlights
The newly released Catalogue places particular emphasis on three strategic directions:
- Advanced Manufacturing
Strengthening industrial and supply-chain resilience through support for terminal products, high-end components, and key raw materials. - Modern Services
Expanded encouragement for technical services, scientific research, and high-quality service consumption, including R&D platforms. - Regional Development
Targeted incentives for projects located in the central, western, and northeastern regions, as well as Hainan Province, aligned with local comparative advantages.
Foreign investors operating in encouraged sectors may benefit from preferential policies, including exemptions from customs duties on self-use equipment, priority land supply at preferential prices, and a reduced 15% corporate income tax rate for eligible projects in designated regions.
Focus Area: Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery
(Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2025 Edition))
The 2025 Catalogue significantly expands support for modern, green, and technology-enabled agribusiness, covering the full value chain from upstream breeding to downstream logistics and services. Encouraged items include:
- Cultivation, development and production of woody edible oil crops, spices and industrial raw materials.
- Development of cultivation technologies, planting and product production of green and organic vegetables (including edible fungi and melons), fresh and dried fruits, and tea.
- Breeding, cultivation and production of wine grapes.
- Breeding, cultivation and production of raw materials for beer brewing.
- Development of new cultivation technologies and product production for sugar crops, fruit trees, forage grasses and other crops.
- Breeding, development and application of new plant varieties dedicated to high-yield and high-efficiency silage feed.
- Flower production, and the construction and operation of nurseries and seedling bases.
- Cultivation of rubber, oil palm, sisal and coffee.
- Breeding and cultivation of aromatic plants, and extraction and processing of essential oils.
- Cultivation and breeding of traditional Chinese medicinal materials
(excluding seeds and seedlings of traditional Chinese medicinal materials and other medicinal resources as stipulated by the State). - Comprehensive utilization of crop straw, and development and production of organic fertilizer resources.
- Cultivation of forest resources, including fast-growing and high-yield timber forests, large-diameter timber forests, bamboo forests, economic forests such as oil-tea camellia, and timber forests of valuable tree species.
- Under-forest ecological farming and breeding.
- Development and application of standardized, large-scale livestock and poultry breeding technologies, and intelligent breeding technologies.
- Introduction and breeding of breeding livestock, poultry and aquatic seedlings
(excluding China’s indigenous precious and superior breeds). - Construction and operation of ecological and environmental protection projects, including desertification control, soil and water conservation, land greening and rocky desertification control.
- Aquaculture, including deep-water cage aquaculture, industrialized aquaculture, and ecological marine ranching.
- High-efficiency water-saving irrigation; farmland soil improvement and ecological restoration; comprehensive utilization of reserve arable land resources such as saline-alkali land; construction of green farmland and related technology development and application; recycling and utilization of solid waste from agricultural inputs; rural environmental improvement, including treatment of rural domestic sewage and waste, rural toilet improvement, and water ecological environment management and restoration, as well as related project construction and technology development and application.
- Construction and operation of agricultural product storage, preservation and cold-chain logistics facilities.
- Smart agriculture, including the integrated application of software technologies and agricultural equipment.
- Rural e-commerce and new forms of rural services, including agricultural production services adapted to large-scale, standardized and mechanized agricultural production, as well as rural living services.
- Leisure agriculture, including agricultural experience activities, outdoor development, ecological health and wellness, and the construction of labor education and practice bases.
- Development and production of safe, efficient and environmentally friendly feed and feed additives
(including vitamins, methionine and feed enzymes), and alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters for animals.
Shiyao Investment Analysis:
Green Transformation and Life Sciences Convergence
Shiyao Investment observes a strong alignment between the 2025 Catalogue and China’s policy objective of fostering “new quality productive forces”, particularly at the intersection of agribusiness, food & beverage, and life sciences.
The explicit encouragement of advanced agricultural technologies, intelligent breeding systems, animal health solutions, and green input alternatives creates a clear pathway for international investors to participate in China’s agricultural modernization. Meanwhile, expanded support for cold-chain logistics, smart agriculture, and rural services enhances the commercial viability of integrated, end-to-end investment models.
For international players in Agriculture, Food & Beverage and Life Sciences, the inclusion of traditional Chinese medicinal materials (within defined regulatory boundaries), ecological restoration, and R&D-driven agricultural services points to a more predictable policy and tax environment for long-term Greenfield investments and joint ventures, particularly in encouraged regions.
As many multinational firms reassess their China strategies in light of regional incentives and supply-chain reconfiguration, the 2025 Catalogue provides both policy clarity and structural opportunities for sustainable growth.
For further information on the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (2025 Edition), or to explore opportunities in Agribusiness, Food & Beverage, or Life Sciences in China, please contact Shiyao Investment Ltd. at contact@shiyaoinvestment.com or your usual Shiyao Investment representative.
Source:
[1] https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/fzggwl/202512/t20251224_1402564.html
[2] https://english.news.cn/20251224/0de99d0465e84400afd4e54d0101f0c4/c.html
[3] See NDRC’s accompanying explanatory document (PDF), available at: https://zfxxgk.ndrc.gov.cn/upload/images/202511/2025112413101161.pdf
[4] https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202512/1351412.shtml
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Founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2000, Shiyao Investment is a leading boutique investment banking advisory firm specializing in the Agribusiness, Food & Beverages, and related Life Sciences (Animal Health…) sectors in Asia . With over 25 years of sector expertise, the firm has accompanied numerous international companies in their Asian development (in particular Greater China, Japan…) and local fast growing players in their global expansion, providing Strategic Advisory and implementation, including Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) , greenfield investments, joint ventures, and licensing…
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