2026 is the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”, and the large home furnishing industry has ushered in a key node for green transformation.
The mandatory new national standard “Limits of formaldehyde release in interior decoration materials and artificial panels and their products” (GB 18580-2025) will be officially implemented on June 1. This move is like a blockbuster, causing an uproar in the large home furnishing industry.
At the “Green Leadership·Value Reshaping” 2026 High-Quality Development Conference of the Major Home Industry, Zhou Hongsheng, President of the China Forest Products Industry Association, made it clear: “We care about value, not price.” He pointed out that the behavior of some companies in lowering prices and sacrificing quality during bidding must be resolutely corrected.
The large home furnishing industry faces a multi-trillion-level market, but there are currently no companies worth hundreds of billions, so price wars must not be fought.
Low-price competition will not only lead to shrinking profits, but also the loss of consumer trust.
He emphasized that each company’s products should be characterized, differentiated, and valued, and follow the path of high-quality development.
Fu Yuejin, director of the National Quality Inspection and Testing Center for Artificial Panels and Wood and Bamboo Products, mentioned during the on-site interpretation of the new national standard that the new national standard for the first time included the E0 level as a mandatory standard, and the formaldehyde emission limit of artificial panel products directly used indoors was raised from 0.124mg/m³ of the E1 level to the E0 level limit value ≤0.050mg/m³.
He specifically reminded that the new national standard must be implemented from June 1, the old mandatory standard will be abolished, and there will be no production date exemption.
Products that do not meet the standards will not be used for interior decoration, and continuing to produce and sell them will be illegal.
Zhang Zhongtao, a professor-level senior engineer at the Industrial Development Planning Institute of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, pointed out that whether it is the national bottom line standard or the leading standard, China’s current constraint indicators are already in the first echelon in the world.
He also reminded consumers to pay attention to the carrying capacity of indoor panels. Taking a room with a floor height of 10 square meters and a floor height of 3 meters as an example, the safe use area of E0-grade panels is about 21 square meters. Even if qualified panels are used for excessive use, the indoor air quality may still not meet the standard.
Guo Xingtian, vice president of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association and chairman of Wanhua Ecological Group, said: “Multiple policies and regulations have been implemented intensively, and the green transformation of the industry is no longer a multiple-choice question, but a must-answer question.” It has become an industry consensus to escape from price war involution and follow the path of value competition.
Chen Yiming, president of the China Real Estate Association, said that “having a place to live” has been basically realized, and the core needs of consumers are shifting from “whether there is a house” to “whether the house is good or not”, and the era of inventory renewal has arrived.
Lu Yan, Director of the Development Research Center and Director of the Research Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, believes that consumers’ health concepts are changing from “passive health” to “active health.” Home design cannot simply revolve around good looks, but must also revolve around science and people’s health laws.
At the conference, more than 30 leading companies jointly issued the “2026 High-Quality Development Declaration of “Reconstructing Value and Expanding Green Growth” in the Home Decoration Industry”, proposing five public commitments: adhere to the bottom line of environmental protection and quality, and strictly benchmark new national standards; reject concept hype and truthfully label product classifications; practice value competition and cultivate new quality productivity; accept social supervision and jointly build a green consumption environment; serve national strategies and help upgrade green consumption.
All signatory companies are required to fulfill their commitments with products and market performance.
