China's tax data reveals accelerated transformation in manufacturing sector

BEIJING -- China's manufacturing sector saw its transformation toward intelligent and green development accelerate in 2025, with its role as the "ballast stone" of the national economy becoming more prominent, according to tax data released by the State Taxation Administration on Wednesday.

In 2025, the growth of sales revenue of China's manufacturing sector outpaced the national overall sales by 1.7 percentage points, accounting for 29.7 percent of the country's total sales revenue, a 0.5-percentage-point increase from the previous year.

Value-added tax (VAT) invoice data indicated that in 2025, the procurement value of automated and digital equipment by manufacturing enterprises nationwide rose by 11.3 percent and 10 percent year-on-year, respectively, marking faster progress in the intelligent transformation and digital upgrading of the manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, the sales revenue of the intelligent equipment manufacturing industry surged 28.1 percent from the previous year, with the output of industrial robots and special operation robots jumping 17.4 percent and 42.1 percent, respectively.

The share of sales revenue of high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises in the entire manufacturing sector dropped by 1.1 percentage points in 2025, reflecting continuous optimization of the industrial structure. Manufacturing enterprises also saw their spending on environmental governance services climb steadily year-on-year, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the deepening integration of the digital and real economies was evident, with manufacturing enterprises' procurement of digital technologies surging 10.4 percent year-on-year in value, a 3.5-percentage-point acceleration from the previous year.

Looking ahead, China's tax authorities will effectively implement preferential tax and fee policies for advancing the manufacturing sector's transformation and upgrading, continue to optimize tax and fee services, and contribute to advancing the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, according to the State Taxation Administration.