In response to demand pressure, industrial enterprises strive to expand overseas markets and upgrade export quality. The commodities are gradually transformed into high-end manufacturing and equipment manufacturing
At present, the recovery of the world economy is sluggish. In order to curb high inflation, major economies have tightened monetary policies, which has exacerbated the contraction of global demand. In June, the global manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was 47.8%, a month-on-month decline for four consecutive months. Domestic demand needs to be further recovered. In June, China's manufacturing purchasing managers index was 49%, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, but still in the contraction range. In this context, China's manufacturing industry has achieved steady growth. In the first half of the year, the growth rate of the added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size accelerated compared with the first quarter. The year-on-year growth rates in May and June were 3.5% and 4.4% respectively, showing a monthly recovery trend.
In the first half of the year, among the 41 major industrial sectors, 26 industries above the designated size achieved growth in added value, with a growth rate of 63.4%. The automobile manufacturing industry, the railway, shipbuilding, aerospace, and other transportation equipment manufacturing industries, and the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry have good growth momentum.
In the first quarter of 2023, manufacturing investment increased by 7.0% year-on-year, 1.9 percentage points higher than all investments, and a slight increase from the fourth quarter of last year. There are mainly the following reasons. First, factors such as the recovery of economic activities and the improvement of the prosperity of emerging industries supported the expansion of manufacturing investment. Second, strong exports in the first quarter further stimulated the investment vitality of the manufacturing industry, and the export performance of electromechanical and high-tech products represented by new energy vehicles was outstanding.
However, in the first half of the year, the product sales rate of industrial enterprises was 96.2%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6%; the export delivery value of industrial enterprises was 6.98 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. In response to demand pressure, industrial enterprises strive to expand overseas markets and upgrade export quality.
From the perspective of export commodity structure, on the one hand, traditional mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products have achieved stable growth. The export of general machinery and equipment has improved, with a year-on-year increase of 2.3% in the first quarter; the growth rate of bags, toys, etc. also maintained positive growth. On the other hand, the export structure is also constantly upgrading, and the commodities are gradually transformed into high-end manufacturing and equipment manufacturing. In the first quarter, China's automobile exports approached 1 million units, an increase of 70% over the same period last year, and the proportion of automobile exports in production increased to 16.4%. Among them, the export of pure electric passenger vehicles reached 220,000, accounting for 26.7% of China's passenger vehicle exports, an increase of 3.6 percentage points from the end of 2022.
In the first half of this year, China's export of electromechanical products was 6.66 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.3%. Among them, the total export of the "three new" products of electric passenger vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar batteries increased by 66.9%, with a year-on-year increase of more than 100 billion yuan, which raised the overall growth rate of exports by 2 percentage points. The growth of new kinetic energy will promote China's foreign trade. The effect is obvious. At present, countries around the world are actively launching and continuously strengthening support policies for new energy vehicles, such as financial subsidies and lowering import tariffs. The energy storage market demand is also strong. It is expected that the export of the "new three products" will still be a highlight this year.
In the first quarter of 2023, manufacturing investment increased by 7.0% year-on-year, 1.9 percentage points higher than all investments, and a slight increase from the fourth quarter of last year. Manufacturing investment continued to develop steadily, mainly due to the following reasons. First, factors such as the recovery of economic activities and the improvement of the prosperity of emerging industries supported the expansion of manufacturing investment. Second, strong exports in the first quarter further stimulated the investment vitality of the manufacturing industry, and the export performance of electromechanical and high-tech products represented by new energy vehicles was outstanding. In addition, despite the drop in demand from developed countries, exports from emerging markets such as countries along the “Belt and Road” and member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) continued to expand, driving companies to expand capital expenditures.
Third, the policy supports the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and boosts the investment confidence of enterprises. The "Government Work Report" proposes to implement industrial foundation reconstruction projects and major technical equipment research projects to promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of the manufacturing industry. Since the beginning of this year, many provinces have sounded the clarion call for high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, taking high-end, intelligent, and green as important starting points, accelerating the development of emerging industries such as the industrial Internet, new energy vehicles, and biomedicine, and promoting the development of industries such as steel and petrochemicals. Enterprises in key industries realize energy conservation and carbon reduction and green transformation. In addition, the financial credit policy continues to be favorable, injecting financial momentum into the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.
Under the strategy of Chinese companies insisting on going overseas, despite drastic changes in the external environment in 2022, China's foreign trade performance is still impressive. According to customs data, in 2022, China's total import and export of goods trade will exceed 40 trillion yuan for the first time, reaching 42.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, and it has maintained its position as the world's largest goods trading country for six consecutive years. Among them, the total export volume reached 23.97 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%.
Among all export products, electromechanical products are still the largest category of China's export products. In 2022, the total export value of China's mechanical and electrical products will be 13.70 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%, accounting for 57.15% of China's total export value. In addition, the export of new energy products has achieved super-high growth. Exports of solar cells, lithium batteries, and new energy vehicles increased by 67.8%, 86.7%, and 119.0% respectively. High-tech products also account for a large proportion of China's total export value, reaching 26.45%.