Opinion

China's economy gets off to a good start with high quality

The latest invoice data from the State Administration of Taxation shows that with the continued implementation of existing and new policies, China's economic development since the beginning of this year has shown a trend of a good start, a stable foundation, and high quality.

Manufacturing has been stable with improved quality, further strengthening its role as the ballast of the economy. From January 1 to March 25, sales revenue from the manufacturing industry increased by 5.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 29.2 percent of the national enterprise sales revenue. Notably, sales revenue from the equipment manufacturing grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for 46.5 percent of the manufacturing industry's sales revenue, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

Industries driven by new growth drivers developed steadily, with sustained enhancement in technological innovation. From January 1 to March 25, sales revenue from the high-tech industry increased by 14.6 percent year-on-year. Within this, sales revenue from high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 12.7 percent and 15.8 percent year-on-year, respectively. Driven by demand in areas such as artificial intelligence and computing centers, sales revenue from integrated circuit design and integrated circuit manufacturing increased by 48.9 percent and 40.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

The energy mix continued to optimize, with accelerating green transformation. From January 1 to March 25, industries related to ecological and environmental protection developed rapidly. Sales revenue from the ecological protection and environmental governance industry grew by 9.6 percent year-on-year. Revenue from clean energy power generation grew rapidly, accounting for 36.3 percent of the sales revenue of total power generation, an increase of 4.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Service consumption was unleashed, with a noticeable driving effect from the holiday economy. From January 1 to March 25, service consumption maintained rapid growth. Sales revenue from the homestay service and resident service industries increased by 15.3 percent and 7.3 percent year-on-year, respectively. The extended Spring Festival holiday boosted the cultural tourism market, with strong vibrancy in the cultural tourism and leisure entertainment sectors. Sales revenue from travel agencies and related services, as well as the culture, sports, and entertainment industries, increased by 14.3 percent and 14.1 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Inter-provincial trade grew steadily, with continuous progress in building a unified national market. From January 1 to March 25, national inter-provincial trade sales increased by 4.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for 41 percent of the national total sales. Over 80 percent of provinces achieved positive growth in inter-provincial trade sales.

Policy

1. China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) has announced a new policy to expand a cross-customs-district return model for retail export goods from cross-border e-commerce. Starting April 1, 2026, cross-border e-commerce retail export goods returned from overseas will no longer be required to go back to the original customs office through which they were exported. Instead, companies may choose any customs port across the country to handle the return entry procedures, which will provide greater flexibility for businesses.

2. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the 2025 typical application practices for 5G factories on April 1. These typical application practices are 100 projects selected from thousands of 5G factories nationwide that demonstrate advanced technology and serve as benchmarks. They cover fields such as equipment manufacturing, consumer goods, raw materials industry, electronic information, and the energy and transportation sectors.

Data

1. China's e-commerce sector recorded steady growth in the first two months of 2026 as digital consumption remained robust, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Total online retail sales of goods and services rose by 9.2 percent year on year in January and February. Smart products stood out among the key products, with online retail sales of smart glasses and window-cleaning robots soaring by 183.5 percent and 130.8 percent year on year, respectively.

2. The UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Zero Waste released the first list of 20 cities on the path to zero waste on March 27. The selected cities were recognized for their efforts in reducing waste, promoting the circular economy, and building more sustainable and inclusive urban systems. Three Chinese cities - Hangzhou, Sanya, and Suzhou - were among those selected.

3. China climbed to 9th place in the global national innovation index rankings in 2025, up one notch from a year earlier, marking steady progress toward its goal of becoming a leading science and technology nation, according to the National Innovation Index Report 2025 released by the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development on March 29.

4. Data from the National Medical Products Administration showed that the total value of China's outbound licensing deals for innovative drugs surpassed USD 60 billion in the first quarter of 2026, nearly half of the full-year total for 2025.

5. China's sci-fi industry generated a total revenue of RMB 126.1 billion in 2025, up 15.7 percent year on year and exceeding RMB 100 billion for the third consecutive year, as the sector is now steadily entering a new phase of high-quality development.

6. The global level of industrial digitalization continues to rise, with the relevant barometer index increasing from 48 percent in 2022 to the current 68 percent, according to the 2026 Industry 4.0 Barometer report jointly released by the University of Munich and the consulting firm MHP. Among the countries surveyed, China reached 72 percent, up 3 percentage points from the previous year, followed by the United States at 69 percent, India at 68 percent, and Mexico at 67 percent.

7. On March 31, the 10,800-car LNG dual-fuel car carrier (PCTC) No. 1, built by CSSC Guangzhou Shipbuilding International for South Korea's HMM, began its sea trial. It is currently the world's first 10,000-car-class dual-fuel car carrier under construction.

8. China's manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors both rebounded into expansionary territory in March, signaling a notable pickup in economic vitality, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed recently. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector stood at 50.4 in March, the non-manufacturing business activity index at 50.1, and the composite PMI output index at 50.5, up 1.4 percentage points, 0.6 percentage points and 1.0 percentage point from the previous month respectively.

9. In 2025, China's insurance industry underwrote 43.58 million new energy vehicles, an increase of 12.48 million vehicles or 40.1 percent from the previous year. This included 41.81 million passenger vehicles and 1.77 million commercial trucks.

10. According to value-added tax invoice data released by the State Taxation Administration, as of March 25, China's high-tech industry sales revenue rose 14.6 percent year on year.

(Source: Economic Daily)