On July 22nd, the National Development and Reform Commission and other five departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Water-saving Industry", proposing that by 2027, the scale of water-saving industry will reach trillions, cultivate and form a group of "specialized, special and new" SMEs, and initially establish a development pattern of water-saving industry with enterprises as the main body, market-oriented, innovation-driven, and integrated with industry, education, research, and application.

By 2035, cultivate a group of billion-level leading enterprises, and the water-saving technology, equipment manufacturing, and management services reach the world's advanced level, and the water-saving production and lifestyle are fully formed.

According to the Ministry of Water Resources, in order to accelerate the promotion of recycled water utilization and continuously improve the level of water resources saving and intensive utilization, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Water Resources have recently identified 50 key cities for recycled water utilization, focusing on water-deficient areas, water-sensitive areas, and water-ecologically fragile areas, in the hope of exploring a batch of demonstration effects, strong driving role, and sustainable experience and practices through the implementation of a three-year action plan for recycled water utilization, and promoting them widely.

According to the requirements of the implementation plan, the key cities for recycled water utilization will focus on five important tasks, strengthen the allocation and management of recycled water, optimize the planning and layout of recycled water utilization, improve the facilities for recycled water production and utilization, expand the field and scene of recycled water utilization, and improve the policy of recycled water utilization. Ensure that positive results are achieved by 2026. For cities with a recycled water utilization rate of less than 30%, it is planned to increase it by 20 percentage points on the existing basis, while for cities with a recycled water utilization rate of more than 30%, it is planned to increase it by 10 percentage points on the existing basis.

According to data from the Forward Industry Research Institute, from 2016 to 2023, the overall water consumption of 10,000 yuan GDP and 10,000 yuan industrial added value showed a downward trend nationwide, which means that the national water-saving action has achieved significant results in recent years, and water efficiency and benefits have been improved.

Zheshang Bank pointed out that water affairs assets are high-quality operating assets with abundant operating cash flow. Recently, capital expenditures of some water affairs companies remained high due to cyclical impacts, but there is no long-term expansion foundation. It is expected to fall back to a normal level within the industry's inherent development logic in the future. Therefore, the free cash flow elasticity of relevant companies in the future is larger and can provide support for sustainable and stable high dividend payouts. The increase in water prices is expected to increase the profitability of water affairs companies and improve their cash flow situation.

The bank stated that for several years, the growth rate of water prices has been continuously slowing down, and most cities or regions have not adjusted prices for a long time. Additionally, water fee expenditures only account for 0.5% of residents' disposable income, so there is ample room for water price adjustments. With the implementation of price adjustments in Shanghai and the introduction of the Guangzhou plan, the policy signals are clear, price hike expectations are clear, and the market-oriented and dynamic attributes of water prices are gradually strengthened, which will benefit relevant companies.

Hong Kong-listed water-related enterprises include: bj ent water (00371), china water (00855), guangdong inv (00270), dcwt (03768), taizhou water (01542), xinglu water (02281) and so on.

BJ Ent Water (00371), China Water (00855), Guangdong Inv (00270), DCWT (03768), Taizhou Water (01542), Xinglu Water (02281) and so on.