Under the background of Chinas carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the carbon emission of methanol and its downstream products can be reduced from the source by vigorously developing natural gas-to-methanol, which is an important direction for the green and low-carbon transformation and development of the methanol industry. Therefore, this research on the influencing factors and trends of the development of natural gas-to-methanol industry has been carried out. By summarizing the development status and characteristics of the natural gas-to-methanol industry in the past five years, analyzing industry development influencing factors and the pros and cons, this paper provides an outlook on the development trend of the industry during the “14th Five Year Plan” period of China. Research shows that: 1) During the “13th Five Year Plan” period, the natural gas-to-methanol production industry has shown an overall growth trend, with two characteristics：the production capacity is concentrated in Sichuan and Chongqing and the northwest China, with the regional product supply moving from the west to the east. 2) The natural gas-to-methanol production industry developed slowly due to four major factors, namely industrial development policy, shortage of raw material supply, supply and demand in downstream market and competition of products with similar quality. 3) Compared with coal-to-methanol, the production capacity utilization rate of natural gas-to-methanol is at a disadvantage, and its advantages exist in carbon emission reduction. 4) During the “14th Five Year Plan” period, the methanol production from natural gas will show four trends: the newly added capacity will be mainly supporting capacity, the downstream demand will consist mainly of methanol-to-olefin and methanol as fuel, the capacity utilization rate will be improved, and the production rate change will mainly be affected by the profit fluctuation. To further enhance the development of the industry, it is suggested that: 1) Accelerate the development of natural gas-to-methanol as marine fuel. 2) Vigorously promote the development of natural gas-to-methanol as automobile fuel. 3) Proactively carry out the R & D and demonstrate the application of CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage). 4) Proactively carry out carbon footprint certification.