China ranks 4th in manufacturing development index: report

China ranked fourth in the world in manufacturing development in 2023, according to the 2024 China Manufacturing Power Development Index Report released on Monday.

The report, presented by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee and other relevant departments, provides an in-depth analysis of the development of the manufacturing industries in major countries worldwide, with a focus on trends and major new features in China.

According to the report, China's manufacturing development power index showed an overall positive trend, with its global competitiveness on the rise and notable achievements in areas such as quality improvement, efficiency enhancement, and green, low-carbon development.

The Manufacturing Power Development Index is made up of five sub-indices: scale development, quality efficiency, structural optimization, innovation development, and sustainable development. These metrics comprehensively reflect the strength of a country's manufacturing industry.

According to the report, in 2023, China ranked fourth in the world in terms of the manufacturing development index. While the growth rate of China's manufacturing sector slowed, its overall scale continued to expand.

China represented the second-highest increase in the world in terms of the quality efficiency index, particularly in three key indicators that reflect the efficiency and effectiveness of manufacturing - manufacturing value-added rate, labor productivity in manufacturing, and sales profit margin. For the first time in years, all three of these core metrics saw simultaneous improvement.

The report highlighted that China claimed the largest year-on-year improvement in the sustainability sub-index, marking a major highlight in China's manufacturing sector in 2023.

"Among the five indicators, the three indexes of quality efficiency, innovation development, and sustainable development all showed steady increase or growth in a particular manner. This actually indicates that our high-quality development strategy had achieved initial results, marking a shift from focusing on scale to emphasizing quality and efficiency. Our technological innovation also exerted effects, and our transformation paced up. Our focus on high-quality manufacturing was more and more solid," said Wang Decheng, a member of the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee.

The report also noted some declines in certain sub-indices of China's manufacturing power index, and experts pointed out that the industry faces various challenges. Nevertheless, they emphasized that the overall favorable conditions outweigh the negative factors, the trend of economic recovery remains strong, and the long-term outlook for China's manufacturing sector continues to be positive.

According to the latest data, in the first three quarters of 2024, China's manufacturing value-added grew by 5.2 percent year on year, exceeding the GDP growth rate by 0.4 percentage points. In November 2024, this growth rate further went up to 6.0 percent, showing an overall improvement over 2023.

China ranks 4th in manufacturing development index: report

A set of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) power generation units began commercial operation on Saturday in southwest China's Guizhou Province, indicating that the country has pioneered the world in commercializing this innovative technology.

Named "Chaotan-1" (Super Carbon-1), the system uses supercritical CO2 instead of steam as the working fluid to transfer heat and generate power. Supercritical CO2 refers to carbon dioxide maintained at extremely high temperature and pressure, where it exhibits both liquid- and gas-like properties, making it a highly efficient medium for energy conversion.

By leveraging these properties, the new power generation units, which captures waste heat from industrial processes, achieve higher efficiency than conventional steam-based systems.

"The exhaust gas from a steel plant's sintering machine can be over 400 degrees Celsius hot. We use the gas to heat carbon dioxide, compress it to about 200 atmospheres with this machine, and then send it into a heat exchanger, where it absorbs residual heat from the waste gas to drive turbines to generate electricity." said Huang Yanping, chief scientist at China National Nuclear Corporation and chief designer of the Chaotan-1 project.

Thanks to the psychical properties of supercritical CO2, Chaotan-1 improves waste heat utilization efficiency by more than 85 percent compared with existing steam-based sintering waste heat power generators, while boosting net power output by over 50 percent, yielding significant economic returns.

"By converting industrial waste heat into electricity to the greatest extent possible, the project can generate around 50 million yuan (about 7.10 million U.S. dollars) in additional net cash flow annually at local electricity prices. The investment cost can be recovered in roughly three years," Huang said.

Industry experts say the project carries major strategic value. Zhang Xiaodong, deputy director of the Industrial Development Department at Dongfang Electric Corporation, described the project as a milestone.

"Any new technology goes through a process from quantitative accumulation to qualitative change. This project marks a key milestone, which may well serve as an example of strategic importance. Its success will pave the way for the rollout of similar projects in the future," he said.

China pioneers commercial use of supercritical CO2 power generation