China's emerging industries see rapid sales growth in first 11 months

Sales revenue in the high-tech industry grew by 14.7 percent year on year in the first 11 months, according to data released by the State Taxation Administration on Monday.

Among them, sales revenue in high-tech services increased by 17.2 percent year on year, while sales revenue in high-tech manufacturing rose by 11.1 percent. In manufacturing sectors such as integrated circuits and industrial machine tools, sales revenue grew by 19.3 percent and 11 percent year on year, respectively.

"From January to November, sales revenue in core industries of the digital economy rose by 10 percent year on year, while the firms' purchases of digital technology increased by 10.2 percent year on year. Sales revenue from digital product services and digital technology applications rose by 9.8 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively, showing the advancing progress of digital industrialization and industrial digitalization. Meanwhile, sales revenue in the data resources and intellectual property trading industry increased by 11.1 percent year on year, indicating accelerated progress in the marketization of data," said Cai Zili, deputy director of the State Taxation Administration at a press conference.

Cai said that China has deepened its efforts to upgrade traditional industries and accelerate the adoption of smart manufacturing equipment. In the first 11 months, the firms' purchases of digitized equipment by traditional industries rose by 7.6 percent, while purchases of automation equipment rose by 9.3 percent. Production practices in traditional industries have become more environmentally friendly, Cai added.

"From January to November, firms' purchases of energy-saving and environmental protection technologies in traditional industries increased by 33.2 percent year on year. This reflects the sustained intensification of technological upgrades for energy savings and carbon reduction in traditional industries, which will promote cleaner, low-carbon production practices while enhancing resource utilization efficiency," said Cai.

External power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been restored after a brief disruption of about 40 minutes, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday.

The IAEA said the cause of the power failure remains unclear so far.

An IAEA team on site is investigating and monitoring the situation.

The plant is one of the largest nuclear power plants in Europe.

After the Ukraine crisis flared up in February 2022, Russia took control of the plant.

Since then, the plant has been subjected to multiple shelling and drone attacks, raising international concerns about its safety.