Key figures on China's new quality productive forces in 2024

Since last year's Two Sessions, China's "new quality productive forces" has been a buzzword attracting global attention.

With innovation playing the leading role, new quality productive forces mean advanced productivity is freed from the traditional economic growth mode and productivity development paths. It features high-tech, high efficiency and high quality, and comes in line with the new development philosophy.

Since last year, fostering new quality productive forces has accelerated China's upgrading of traditional industries, development of emerging sectors, planning of future industries and building of a modern industrial system.

Policy support

China's main policies supporting sci-tech innovation and the development of the manufacturing industry saw tax cuts, fee reductions and tax refunds totaling 2.63 trillion yuan (about $366.75 billion) in 2024, according to the State Taxation Administration.

In 2024, the sales revenues of China's high-tech sectors grew 9.6 percentage points faster than the overall national growth rate, reflecting the rapid development of innovative industries.

Specifically, the sales revenues of the equipment manufacturing, digital product manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing sectors rose 6.2 percent, 8.3 percent and 9 percent respectively, indicating the national manufacturing industry is advancing steadily toward high-end and intelligent development.

The central bank has continuously guided financing into the equipment upgrades and green transformation of foreign trade companies and related logistics sectors. As of the end of the third quarter of 2024, China's outstanding balance of green loans exceeded 35 trillion yuan, and the stock of green bonds issued stood at nearly 2 trillion yuan, ranking among the top in the world.

A government-initiated consumer goods trade-in program has also served as a boost for promoting the new quality productive forces through industrial upgrading, as consumer demand urge enterprises to produce consumer goods that are greener and smarter. Last year the sales revenue of these goods surpassed 1 trillion yuan.

Fueling global green development

With the development of new quality productive forces, China provides the world with a broad market and new products, fueling global green development

In 2024, China's total goods imports in yuan terms expanded 2.3 percent from one year earlier to 18.39 trillion yuan, according to General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Some of the imports with faster growth are closely related to the development of new quality productive forces. For instance, the imports of electromechanical products grew by 6.2 percent, imports of integrated circuits grew by 10.4 percent, data from the GAC showed.

China's fast-growing green technologies and thriving new energy market has heightened the country's magnetism for foreign investors. Foreign direct investment in China's hi-tech manufacturing sectors reached 77.12 billion yuan, or 12 percent of the total FDI inflow, in the first nine months of 2024, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

As a major manufacturer and consumer market for new energy vehicles (NEVs), China saw domestic NEV sales exceed 10 million units in the first 11 months of 2024, marking a 40.3 percent year-on-year increase. In comparison, exports reached about 1.14 million units, up 4.5 percent.

Currently, China produces 50 percent of the world's wind power equipment and 80 percent of the world's photovoltaic equipment.

Calling China "the world's renewables powerhouse," with economic attractiveness of renewable energy technologies as well as a supportive policy environment, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecasted that China will account for almost 60 percent of new renewable capacity expected to become operational globally by 2028.