Official figures released on September 15th show that while China's overall economy held steady in August, two distinct areas posted exceptionally strong performance, standing out as clear growth leaders.
Emerging industries delivered the first standout performance. Data from August shows that value-added output from high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing above a designated size grew by 16.7% and 15.7% year-on-year, respectively. These new growth drivers now contribute over 60% of the growth in the industrial sector, a share that continues to climb. The production index for the information transmission, software, and IT services sector rose by 9.6%, contributing more than 20% to the growth of the overall services production index. This momentum is also visible in investment flows. In the first eight months of the year, investment in high-tech industries expanded by 5.2% year-on-year, an acceleration of 0.2 percentage points from the January-July period and the third consecutive month of accelerating growth. This trend indicates that, driven by both policy support and market demand, regions across the country are ramping up their focus on emerging and future industries, with capital increasingly concentrating in these new sectors.
The second area of strong performance was foreign trade. In August, China's total goods imports and exports exceeded 4.6 trillion yuan, a substantial 19.8% increase compared to the same period last year, and a 0.6 percentage point acceleration from July's pace. Exports of green products, including new energy vehicles and lithium batteries, saw rapid growth, offering more choices for the global green transition. Concurrently, China's imports from developing nations, including ASEAN countries, Africa, and Latin America, also grew significantly, providing new opportunities for industrial development in those regions.
The simultaneous strong performance of these two areas is not a coincidence. The rapid expansion of emerging industries is fundamentally changing what China can produce and offer to the global market. At the same time, sustained growth in imports and exports highlights the deepening connection between China and the global economy amid industrial transformation. Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, remarked that China's industrial upgrading, along with its improving R&D and technological capabilities, is steadily enhancing the global competitiveness of its high-value-added and green products, which are increasingly becoming a key driver of export growth. During the January-August period, exports of high-tech products grew by 37.1% year-on-year, with integrated circuit exports soaring by 95.4%. Exports of green and low-carbon products, such as lithium batteries and electric vehicles, also continued their rapid growth trajectory.
The significant increase in China's imports in the first eight months is also fueled by industrial and technological innovation. As applications of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, expand, global demand for production and investment in related fields has increased. As a major manufacturing hub, China holds a crucial position in global industrial and supply chains, and its growing demand for upstream raw materials and intermediate goods has contributed to the rise in imports.
This shift is an ongoing process. Throughout the year, a wider array of innovative Chinese products, from robotics to cutting-edge pharmaceuticals, has been making a mark in global markets. Luo Zhiheng, chief economist and dean of the research institute at Yuekai Securities, notes that this represents more than just a broader export catalog; it signifies an upgrade in how Chinese companies participate in the global division of labor. Looking ahead, observing China's foreign trade will also require attention to new methods of cross-border value creation, including technology, intellectual property, solutions, and digital services. In this sense, these two growth engines not only highlight the bright spots in China's August economic performance but also send a clear signal of a faster transition between old and new growth drivers and a further expansion of development space.
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