Slower growth forecast for China's machinery sector

BEIJING - China's machinery industry is likely to see stable but slower growth in 2017 due to weak demand amid downward economic pressure, an industry group forecast Tuesday.

Annual growth of the sector's value-added industrial output may slow to 7 percent in 2017 from 9.6 percent in 2016, while the business revenue increase would slow to 6 percent from 7.44 percent in 2016, according to data released by China Machinery Industry Federation.

As China was trying to reorient the economy away from its reliance on exports and investment, towards a consumption and service driven model, traditional industries such as steel, coal, power generation, oil and chemicals were undergoing restructuring, and demand for machinery products would remain weak, according to a federation statement.

Growth of fixed-asset investment in the machinery industry fell sharply to 1.7 percent in 2016, down from 9.7 percent in 2015 and the fifth consecutive year of decline

However, as China's economic restructuring continued apace, machinery industries in consumption, environment protection and high-tech industries boomed. Sales of pollution control equipment surged 30.3 percent year on year in 2016, while that of new energy vehicles grew 53 percent from one year earlier, according to the federation data.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent in 2016, a slowdown from the 6.9 percent growth registered in 2015 but within the government's target range.

The service sector accounted for 51.6 percent of the country's 2016 GDP, and consumption contributed nearly two-thirds of GDP growth.