China's industrial production sees steady increase

A worker installs cables at an oil drilling platform near Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/China Daily]

The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday that the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size－defined as State-owned and non State-owned industrial companies with annual revenue of over 20 million yuan ($2.9 million)－rose 6.0 percent year-on-year in 2016, the same as that in the first three quarters.

That performance was slightly down compared with the 6.1 percent increase year-on-year in 2015.

The value added by the high-tech industry grew by 10.8 percent over last year, 4.8 percentage points faster than industrial enterprises above the designated size.

The high-tech industry accounted for 12.4 percent of industrial enterprises above the designated size, 0.6 percentage points more than last year.

The value added by the mining industry dropped by 1.0 percent in 2016 while manufacturing increased by 6.8 percent. The value added by the electricity, thermal power, gas production and water supply industries increased by 5.5 percent year-on-year.

Analysis of different types of enterprises showed that in 2016 the value added of State holding enterprises increased 2.0 percent year-on-year.

The statistics bureau found that collective enterprises decreased 1.3 percent, shareholding companies increased 6.9 percent－and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan province increased 4.5 percent year-on-year.

In December, the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 6.0 percent year-on-year, or up by 0.46 percent month-on-month.

Grouped by different sectors, 33 industries within 41 industrial divisions had year-on-year growth in December. Of the total, growth from automobile manufacturing was 16.2 percent, marking the biggest increase.

In 2016, the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 97.8 percent. The export delivery value of these enterprises reached 11.919 trillion yuan ($1.72 trillion), up by 0.4 percent over last year.

From January to November, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size were 6.03 trillion yuan, up by 9.4 percent year-on-year.

Luo Zhongwei, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said small and medium-enterprises made a great contribution to industrial production.

"Compared with big enterprises, which face the tough tasks of cutting down excessive capacity, the SMEs are more flexible, independent, full of vigor and adaptable to market and changes," Luo added.