The “semi-annual report” of China’s economy in 2024 was released recently, among which the industrial economy is running steadily and improving. Data show that in the first half of the year, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.0% year-on-year; Investment in high-tech industries continued to grow rapidly, and the added value of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 8.7% year-on-year.

The reporter noted that recently, from ministries to local governments are actively deploying and taking multiple measures to further consolidate and enhance the recovery of the industrial economy. Among them, focusing on the development of key industries, implementing the implementation plan for equipment renewal in the field of fine industry, and expanding effective investment in manufacturing have become the focus.

Since the beginning of this year, the national industrial production above designated size has continued to grow rapidly since the fourth quarter of last year, industrial exports have accelerated month by month, and corporate profits have maintained growth. In the first half of this year, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 3.3% year-on-year. In the first five months, 32 out of 41 industrial categories saw year-on-year profit growth.

DELTA-TAU-ACC-72E-2 Guan Bing, director of the Institute of Industrial Economics of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute, told reporters that comprehensive production, investment, exports and benefits and other indicators, the industrial economy in the first half of the year continued to maintain a “stable” trend and a “good” direction, and the role of “ballast stone” is more prominent.

Looking at this “semi-annual report”, the transformation trend of the industry to “new” to “smart” to “green” is more obvious, and new industries and new products are increasingly becoming a new growth point.

In the first half of the year, the output of smart products such as 3D printing equipment, service robots, and smart watches increased by 51.6%, 22.8%, and 10.9%, respectively. In line with the new trend of green and low-carbon development, the output of new energy vehicles increased by 34.3% year-on-year, and the photovoltaic industry chain is growing well. Investment in high-tech industries grew by 10.6 percent year-on-year, 6.7 percentage points faster than total investment.

“These indicators confirm that China’s economic structure is constantly improving and new drivers are growing stronger.” Liu Xiangdong, vice minister of the macroeconomic research Department of the China International Economic Exchanges Center, told reporters that since the beginning of this year, all regions and departments have made efforts to implement various macro policies, support enterprises to work hard in transforming the mode, adjusting the structure, improving the quality and increasing the efficiency, and promote the cultivation and growth of new quality productivity.

However, we must also see that the continued recovery of the industrial economy still faces some difficulties and challenges. Tang Weiwei, director of the Industrial Statistics Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, believes that the current external environment is complex and severe, domestic effective demand is still insufficient, the growth rate of industrial production has slowed down since the second quarter, and the level of corporate profitability is still low.

DELTA-TAU-ACC-72E-2

Standing at the key node in the middle of the year, from the ministries to the local governments, and take multiple measures to consolidate and enhance the recovery of the industrial economy to a good trend, among which efforts to expand effective investment in the manufacturing industry have become the focus of strength.

Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong recently said at a press conference of The State Council, will further expand the effective investment in the manufacturing industry. Implement the implementation plan for equipment renewal in the industrial field, and promote the renewal of advanced equipment, digital transformation, promotion of green equipment and improvement of intrinsic safety level.

DELTA-TAU-ACC-72E-2 Local governments have recently held a series of meetings to deploy key economic work in the second half of the year, and “industrial investment” and “equipment renewal” have become key words. Guangdong proposed to support enterprises to develop and layout “new products, new processes, new equipment, new materials” as the focus, continue to consolidate the momentum of industrial investment growth; Jiangxi clearly needs to accelerate the promotion of enterprise technological transformation, closely combined with large-scale equipment renewal policies, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises, and comprehensively promote digital transformation.

“The effect of large-scale equipment renewal and the policy of replacing old consumer goods with new ones has been released, which has driven the rapid growth of related equipment production.” Guan Bing said that the data show that in the first half of the year, the purchase of equipment and equipment investment increased by 17.3%, driving fixed asset investment growth of 2.1 percentage points; Investment in technological upgrading in the manufacturing sector increased by 10.0%, 0.5 percentage points higher than that in the manufacturing sector.

Guan Bing believes that the next step is to promote the implementation of policies, optimize the threshold of enjoyment and simplify the policy process, so that more enterprises can enjoy policy dividends, guide enterprises to actively promote technology upgrading, increase advanced production capacity, and improve production efficiency. We will improve the policy of replacing old consumer goods with new ones, effectively increase consumption of new energy vehicles, smart home appliances and other bulk commodities, guide enterprises to develop marketable products, and strengthen the role of supply in guiding and driving market demand.