China’s manufacturing sector has made great strides in the past decade, with its contribution to global manufacturing output hitting nearly 30% last year, showing the crucial role the nation has played in safeguarding global industrial and supply chains, officials and experts said. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said it will continue working to stabilize the proportion of manufacturing output in the GDP and step up efforts to accelerate industrial upgrading. Wang Wei, Director of MIIT's Planning Department, said the proportion of China’s manufacturing output worldwide rose from 22.5% in 2012 to nearly 30% in 2021, with the nation maintaining the title as the world’s largest manufacturing country. China’s manufacturing output value jumped to CNY31.4 trillion last year from CNY16.98 trillion in 2012. China has the most industrial categories and yje most complete industrial system in the world, with leading industry chain support systems, strong resilience and great potential, Wang said.
Meanwhile, the quality of products has also seen huge improvements. In the past 10 years, the export value of China’s technology-intensive mechanical and electrical products and high-tech goods increased to CNY12.8 trillion and CNY6.3 trillion in 2021, from CNY7.4 trillion and CNY3.8 trillion in 2012, respectively. The number of industrial and information technology brands listed among the world’s Top 500 brands increased from 10 in 2012 to 24 in 2021.
“China ranks first in the world in terms of output for more than 40% of the world’s 500 major industrial products,” Wang said, adding that mid-range to high-end products such as smartphones, smart TVs, energy-saving refrigerators, smart washing machines and automobiles have become commonplace in people’s daily lives.
Manufacturing activity in China contracted unexpectedly in July. The official PMI for China’s manufacturing sector posted a reading of 49 in July from 50.2 in June. The services sector is developing further. The Caixin China General Services Purchasing Managers’ Index came in at 55.5 in July compared to 54.5 in June, the highest reading since April 2021 and staying well above the 50 point mark that separates growth from contraction. The services sector, which accounts for over 50% of the economy and around half of urban jobs, was originally more significantly affected by the pandemic than manufacturing this year, but the recovery in services has gathered pace in recent months. Caixin’s composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, dropped to 54 in July, from 55.3 in June.
