China Market Watch: Marine Product Equal 9.5 Percent of GDP, Made in China 2025 Initiative Focuses on R&D

March 20, 2017 Posted by China Briefing Reading Time: 4 minutes

China’s marine produce accounts for 9.5 percent of 2016 GDP

China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) has announced in a report that the country’s overall marine product has increased by 6.8 percent year-on-year to over RMB 7 trillion in 2016, making up 9.5 percent of China’s GDP last year. Value-added marine produce accounted for 54 percent of the overall industry, reaching RMB 3.84 trillion last year.

Meanwhile, the marine biopharmaceutical industry made significant growth last year, and coastal tourism has also been steadily expanding.

The report notes a decline in output and added value of offshore oil and gas from 2015, with challenges remaining for China’s maritime shipping industry, despite efforts towards structural optimization. However, China has completed numerous maritime projects, including the installation of offshore wind farms.

Made in China 2025 initiative to focus on better R&D

Analysts have commented on how manufacturers can accomplish plans for premier Li Keqiang’s ‘Made in China 2025’ initiative, saying that they should put more emphasis on mastering core technologies in key sectors in order to improve R&D capabilities, while introducing advanced technologies and equipment from abroad. This will be done by strengthening corporate management, enhancing the quality of their products, as well as recruiting more R&D personnel.

At the same time, it has been stressed that Chinese enterprises should be able to learn and ‘absorb’ foreign expertise in order to bridge the quality gap. The Made in China 2025 initiative, which is designed to upgrade China’s manufacturing capability, aims for 40 percent of key equipment components and key infrastructure material to be produced in China by 2020, and 70 percent by 2025.

Online healthcare industry still needs tangible facilities

Experts have said that online healthcare companies need to be in possession of key medical facilities like hospitals and doctors in order to maintain market competition. Such tangible medical resources are not only core assets for the industry, but are indispensable for the medical profession and cannot be replaced by internet technology.

The majority of online consultation and diagnoses are in need of further examination and treatment in physical hospitals, said Huo Yong, director of the Department of Cardiology and Heart Center at Peking University First Hospital. Since 2011, more than 1,000 online medical enterprises have come about in the field of medical consultation and biotechnology. However, most are still in their formative stage, experimenting with suitable business models, and exploring how to gain trust from doctors and patients alike.

NDRC makes second cut to domestic retail oil price this year

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has announced a second cut to retail oil prices this year. Gas and diesel prices will be reduced by RMB 85 (US$12.3) per ton due to falling international prices. Due to crude oil reserves in the US and the stronger performance of the dollar, international prices have continued to decline.

China has a pricing regime in place which adjusts domestic oil prices when the international price of crude oil drops by RMB 50 per ton during a period of 10 working days. The NDRC price monitoring center has said that oil prices will be kept relatively low in the short term due weak demand.

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