China's industrial production posted strong growth in the first quarter of 2025, laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual economic goal, according to a Chinese official on Friday.
At a press conference in Beijing, Xie Shaofeng, chief engineer of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, briefed the media on the overall performance of China's industrial production in the first three months.
"In the first quarter, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.5 percent year on year. The equipment manufacturing industry developed well, with the electronics, automobile, electrical machinery and equipment sectors playing a prominent role in driving growth. During this period of time, the contribution rate of industry to macroeconomic growth reached 36.3 percent. Industrial private investment remained rising by double digit, along with boosted corporate expectations, improved efficiency and increasing number of industrial enterprises above designated size. China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index, aka PMI, has expanded for two consecutive months," said Xie.
Then he highlighted the efforts that the country has put into technological and industrial innovation, which has promoted the high-end, intelligent and green development, as well as strengthened endogenous driving forces for industrial transformation and upgrading.
For example, increasing deployment of autonomous AI large models in key industrial sectors, more breakthroughs in AI+ products, and wider usage of smart terminal products.
He also introduced the sound development of China's digital industry.
"Digital technologies represented by 5G and AI large models are developing rapidly. In the first two months, the business revenue of the digital industry increased by 8.2 percent year on year. The capacity of network infrastructure has been continuously enhancing. As of the end of March, a total of 4.395 million 5G base stations have been built and put into operation," Xie noted.
China's industrial production grows at faster pace in Q1
China's industrial production grows at faster pace in Q1
China will continuously build a robust domestic market to bolster its economy and counter external challenges in accordance with the requirements and arrangement from the annual Central Economic Work Conference, which put domestic demand at the forefront of eight key tasks for next year's economic work, according to experts.
The tone-setting conference was held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday in which the Chinese leadership decided priorities for the economic work in 2026.
Over the past four years, domestic demand has contributed an average of 86.4 percent to China's economic growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.
"The top priority is to expand domestic demand as the key reason for this is that our demand is relatively weak. The first step here is figuring out how to increase consumption," said Chen Binkai, vice president of Central University of Finance and Economics.
Consumption has continued to play a leading role in the country's economic growth this year. In the first three quarters, final consumption expenditure contributed 53.5 percent to economic growth, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to the whole of last year.
The annual Central Economic Work Conference proposed that in 2026, a special campaign to boost consumption will be implemented in depth, the supply of high-quality goods and services will be expanded, policies on new and emerging industries will be optimized, unreasonable restrictions in the consumption field will be eliminated, and the potential of service consumption will be unleashed.
"Previously, much of the consumption we have encouraged is for manufactured goods. However, the growth rate of our service sector is not as ideal as that of the manufacturing sector. Therefore, increasing some investment to encourage consumption in the service sector may play a better role in stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand," said Huang Qunhui, a researcher of the Institute of Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Experts said that income is the primary factor determining consumption, and only by increasing residents' disposable income, can their consumption capacity be improved.
They also said that the conference, while emphasizing the promotion of consumption, also clearly pointed out the need to formulate and implement a plan to increase the income of urban and rural residents.
"The Third Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] mentioned the need to increase the proportion of residents' income, specifically the proportion of labor compensation within that income. The Fourth Plenary Session [of the 20th CPC Central Committee] further proposed implementing a specific income-increasing plan for urban and rural residents. Of course, consumption is not solely an income issue. We need to strengthen basic public services and improve our social security fund. If these issues are further improved and optimized, and residents have higher incomes, they will be more willing to spend more on consumption, especially on development-oriented consumption," said Huang.
Expanding domestic demand remains top priority for China's economic work in 2026: experts
