The industrial added value of Tianjin Municipality grew 8.7 percent in May from a year earlier, the lowest pace in 13 years, putting pressure on the local government, 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday.
The industrial added value is a major indicator of manufacturing activities.
Tianjin has maintained double-digit growth of industrial added value in the past decade and it's GDP growth was highest in China from 2010 to 2013, according to the report.
However, its growth of industrial added value in May turned out to be even lower than the national average of 8.8 percent, which shocked the local government agencies, the report said.
The slowdown in industrial growth is linked with the overall sluggish economy and Tianjin has to go through economic restructuring, according to experts.
Tianjin is standing at a turning point in its economic development, and now it should speed up on innovation and restructure its economy by boosting services sector, Zang Xueying, an expert from the Party School of CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee, was quoted as saying in the report.
The central government has designated Tianjin as North China's economic center and an international port city.
Taking advantage of its port, Tianjin has put priority on the development of heavy industries such as petrochemical, steel and auto production, but the share of high technology industries such as aviation and aeronautics is low, according to Zang.
Due to overall economic slowdown, petrochemical, steel and auto industries have seen slackening growth and even contraction this year, market analysts said.
In the first four months, the industrial added value of oil and gas exploration and auto manufacturing fell by 2.9 percent and 2 percent year-on-year respectively in Tianjin, official data showed.
Tianjin mainly relies on large industrial projects to drive development but the development model is unsustainable, Ma Yunze, a director at the Binhai Research School of the Nankai University, was quoted as saying in the report.
Ma also said that the Tianjin Binhai Hi-tech Industry Development Area is almost fully occupied and many industries there are facing oversupply issues, so Tianjin cannot merely depend on the Binhai area for further development.
The manufacturing sector in Tianjin took up 50.6 percent in 2013, while the services sector accounted only for 48.1 percent, much lower than around 80 percent in Beijing and 60 percent in Shanghai, the report said.
