Tax data reveals stable and high-quality growth of China's manufacturing sector in Q1

Sales revenue of China's manufacturing sector grew by 4.8% year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points higher than that in 2024, according to the latest VAT invoice data out of the first quarter of 2025 from the State Taxation Administration.

The sales revenue of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing in the first three months grew by 12.1% and 9.7% respectively against the same period of the previous year, 3.1 and 3.5 percentage points more than that in 2024. Amid them, computer manufacturing, communication equipment manufacturing, and electronic industrial equipment manufacturing saw their revenue rise by 29.8%, 17.8%, and 16.4% respectively, which indicates China's manufacturing is advancing up toward the medium- and high-end value chain.

In the digital product manufacturing sector, the sales revenue grew by 12% more than in the same period in 2024, while manufacturing enterprises’ spending on digital technologies rose by 8.7%, a fast digital transformation in the manufacturing sector. Intelligent equipment manufacturing gained more revenue by 13.2%, while industrial robot, intelligent in-vehicle equipment, and consumption service robots increased their gains by 12.4%, 26.5%, and 55.4% respectively. They accelerated the updating pace of the intelligent manufacturing sector.

The sales revenue of energy-intensive manufacturing fell to 29.2% of the overall manufacturing sector, a drop of 1.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. This proves significant achievements in reducing carbon and emissions in manufacturing. Manufacturing enterprises spent more on environmental governance services by 13% year-on-year, 4.6 percentage points more compared to 2024, an increase in investing in green governance.