On March 16th, the National Bureau of Statistics released the industrial production data for January-February 2026.
Industrial production continues to accelerate. In January-February, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size across the country increased by 6.3% year-on-year, with the growth rate accelerating by 1.1 percentage points compared to December of the previous year. By category, the mining industry, manufacturing industry, and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water increased by 6.1%, 6.6% and 4.7% respectively, with the growth rates accelerating by 0.7, 0.9 and 3.9 percentage points respectively. By industry, among the 41 major industrial categories, the added value of 35 industries increased, with a growth rate of 85.4%. By product, among the 626 major industrial products surveyed, the output of 397 products increased, with a growth rate of 63.4%.
The transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries have been steadily advancing, and new growth drivers have gradually accumulated. From the perspective of the energy industry, in January-February, the added value of the petroleum processing industry increased by 10.2% year-on-year, among which the added value of the biomass fuel processing industry rose by 55.3%. From the perspective of the chemical industry, in January-February, the chemical fiber industry grew by 6.1%, among which the bio-based materials manufacturing industry increased by 25.1%, contributing 30.1% to the growth of the chemical fiber industry.
Judging from these circumstances, the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing industries have been steadily advancing, and some industries have formed new growth points. Emerging industries are growing at an accelerated pace. Under the impetus of green transformation, the growth trend of the new energy and green materials industries is relatively good. In the first two months, the output of lithium-ion power batteries for automobiles increased by 28.4%, and the output of lithium carbonate and bio-based chemical fibers rose by 29.3% and 11.2% respectively.
