China's equipment, high-tech manufacturing sectors in rapid growth in June: experts

China's equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors, as new drivers of the country's manufacturing industry, posted accelerated growth in June, while the industry itself underwent continued improvement of the structure amid a stable economic performance, according to experts.

In June, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the equipment manufacturing sector reached 51 percent, marking a 0.3 percentage points increase from the previous month. Among the sub-indexes, the production index and new order index rose to 53 percent and 52 percent respectively, indicating a significant acceleration in both supply and demand within the sector.

The PMI for the high-tech manufacturing sector stood at 52.3 percent in the same month, with an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to the previous month, signifying a significant improvement in the sector's growth rate.

"The PMI for the high-tech manufacturing sector has kept expanding for eight consecutive months, while the PMI for the equipment manufacturing sector has kept going up for four consecutive months. These trends reflect the ongoing advancement of China's manufacturing industry in terms of transformation and upgrading, accompanied by the development of new high-quality productive forces," said Huo Lihui, head of the Service Survey Center's business climate survey division with the National Bureau of Statistics.

Furthermore, the average PMI for the manufacturing industry from January to June stood at 49.8 percent, indicating a 0.3 percentage points increase compared to the average of the second half of 2023.

Since the beginning of this year, despite certain fluctuations in monthly indexes, manufacturing enterprises have sustained a positive outlook for the future, driven by the continuous implementation of various policies.

In June, the Production and Operation Expectation Index reached 54.4 percent, up 0.1 percentage point compared to the previous month. Throughout this year, the index has consistently maintained a level of 54 percent or higher.

"Judged by the overall performance in the first half of the year, it can be said that production supply has been in consistent growth. Secondly, there has been a progress in improvement of the industrial structure. And thirdly, large enterprises have demonstrated stable growth, playing a constructive role in the overall trend of a stable and improving economy," said Cai Jin, vice president of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

China's equipment, high-tech manufacturing sectors in rapid growth in June: experts

China will take splashy actions to spice up consumption growth by taking multiple and multipurpose measures to stimulate various consumption potentials and appetites including greater scalability of trade-in policy, said Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping at the annual conference on China's economy in Beijing on Saturday.

Sheng said that initiatives to boost consumption must be aligned with the improvement of people's livelihoods. He stressed the need for additional measures to fully unlock the potential for consumption.

"Our calculations show that the trade-in policy for consumer goods has already driven nearly one trillion yuan in consumption. Moving forward, we will actively work with departments like the National Development and Reform Commission to extend the scope of this policy, ensuring that more consumers reap tangible benefits," said Sheng.

He also called for innovative promotional activities to create a vibrant atmosphere, particularly through year-end shopping festivals.

Efforts should also be made to expand service consumption, optimize structures, and open up sectors like telecommunications, internet, education, culture, and healthcare to enrich the supply of consumer goods and create diverse consumption scenarios, said the vice commerce minister.

"We will foster new types of consumption and invigorate consumer enthusiasm. We will speed up the introduction of policies on the debut economy to guide various places to develop their debut economy. We will advance digital economy, enhance digital consumption, and promote the integration of AI and consumption. We will also boost green consumption, promote sales of new energy vehicles and green smart home appliances, and facilitate consumption on health-related products through various activities. We will also develop the ice and snow economy and the silver economy," said Sheng.

The debut economy covers everything from the first reveal of a product, the opening of flagship stores, and the launch of new services, to the creation of new business models and technologies.

Efforts will also be made to improve consumption environment, including upgrading pedestrian streets and commercial districts, and creating "15-minute living circle" to boost urban consumption, said Sheng.

The vice minister added that China will continue the three-year action plan for county business, upgrade markets and stores, and increase farmers' incomes and rural consumption.

China takes splashy actions to spice up consumption growth