Production capacity of Chinese manufacturing industry increasingly ramped up as more enterprises resume work

An average of 98.6 percent of industrial enterprises above designated size and 76 percent of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across China have resumed work by March 28, according to Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Workers package rackets at the workshop of a sporting goods company in Shangguan Township of Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 20, 2020. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

At present, China’s industrial fundamentals have become stable, and the basic trend of steady long-term growth for China’s economy remains unchanged, Xin said at a press conference held by the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council on Monday.

The proportion of employees in industrial companies above designated size who had returned to their posts had reached 89.9 percent as of March 28, Xin said.

Resumption of work and production in the manufacturing sector concerns economic and social stability, Xin stressed, disclosing that relevant government departments have taken targeted measures to address problems and difficulties hindering efforts of enterprises to resume work and production.

Efforts have been made to improve the overall benefit and level of work resumption, with industries producing anti-epidemic supplies and living necessities, public services and facilities, preparations for spring ploughing and sowing, foreign investment and foreign trade, as well as a high-tech industry being prioritized in relevant efforts, according to Xin.

So far, more than 90 percent of the employees in the iron and steel industry, as well as the electronics industry have returned to their posts, Xin disclosed, saying that the figure in industries including textile, automobile, machinery, and light industry stand between 70 percent and 90 percent.

On the basis of earlier efforts to promote the resumption of work and production in 51 leading enterprises and more than 7,300 key supporting enterprises, the MIIT facilitated relevant efforts of another 41 leading enterprises and 379 key supporting enterprises, whose production capacity has basically reached that of the same period during the previous year, Xin said.

The 92 leading enterprises have helped drive forward work resumption of more than 400,000 SMEs on the upstream and downstream of their industries, according to Xin.

More than 95 percent of the industrial enterprises above designated size in Hubei province, the worst-hit Chinese province by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), have resumed work, with an average of about 70 percent of the employees in these companies having returned to their posts, Xin disclosed.

The automobile industry and other pillar industries of the country’s economy have enjoyed particular assistance from the MIIT since the epidemic was preliminarily contained, according to Xin.

The MIIT has regarded 15 key complete vehicle enterprises as its focus in facilitating the resumption of work, and established and improved for them a comprehensive coordination mechanism covering key departments such as the Ministry of Transport and the People’s Bank of China, as well as 26 local industry and information technology departments, Xin said.

So far, the country’s more than 1,300 supply chain enterprises in 26 provinces and cities have all resumed work and production, according to Xin, disclosing that the proportion of enterprises in the automobile industry that have resumed operation have risen from around 60 percent on Feb. 19 to 97 percent.

Meanwhile, the proportion of employees in the industry who have returned to their posts has grown from about 50 percent to 82 percent, which is equivalently the same level as that of the same period last year.

Basically, all the industrial enterprises above designated size in major industrial provinces of the country, such as south China’s Guangdong and east China’s Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Fujian, have resumed production.

China has a huge industrial scale and relatively complete industrial system and enjoys enormous domestic market demand, sufficient policy space, and prominent institutional strengths, Xin said, stressing that the impact of the epidemic on the country’s industrial economy is temporary and controllable.