Quality authorities urged Chinese wire and cable companies to step up efforts to promote advanced technologies to improve quality, instead of only expanding their capacity.

The industry boomed in the past few decades on rising demand as the country expanded its power grid, developed the information and telecom sector, upgraded power equipment, and needed energy-saving equipment.

China has now surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest wire and cable manufacturer.

In 2011, the wire and cable industry’s output was worth more than 1.1 trillion yuan ($176 billion), according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

“But some wire and cable products now still fail to reach quality standards, which may endanger people’s health and public safety,” said Wei Chuanzhong, deputy chief of the administration, during a two-day summit on wire and cable products that ended on Friday.

“Electric fires account for about 80 percent of severe fire hazards in China every year and over half of such fires were triggered by the use of substandard electrical wire and cable products,” he said.

Out of 1,762 batches of electrical wire and cable products randomly selected from 10 provinces, 208 batches were substandard, according to a four-month quality inspection conducted by the administration, which was concluded in September.

“There is great potential for the industry in China. But producers need to realize that technology improvements and high quality are the future of the industry,” said Yang Xueshan, vice-minister of industry and information technology, at the summit.

China has more than 7,800 wire and cable companies, but nearly 97 percent of them are small and medium-sized companies and lack competitiveness. Exports only account for about 3 percent of the country’s total production, Wei said.

Also, wire and cable products used in some important areas, such as the aerospace and nuclear power sectors, are mostly imported, according to the administration.