China's machinery industry posted a profit of 153.1 billion yuan (US$18.5 billion) in 2003, up 48.7 percent over the previous year and setting a historical record.

Figures released Tuesday by the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) showed that the machinery industry witnessed rapid growth in production, sales, export and profit last year, with production of electricity generating equipment, numerical control machine tools, automobiles and other major machinery products setting their respective records.

The machinery industry also encountered four fresh features in recent years, said CMIF Chairman Yu Zhen at the CMIF congress held Tuesday.

First, the successive start of the nation's major and long-lasting projects like the Three Gorges Project drives a strong demand for heavy equipment, creating a sound market for the industry's development.

Vigorous demand for automobiles has become the driving force for the industry's rapid growth. Statistics showed that China produced 4.44 million automobiles in 2003, up 35.2 percent over the previous year, accounting for 37 percent of the whole machinery industry in sales volume, and 48 percent in profit.

Individuals and private companies purchase increasingly more machinery equipment. Heavy equipment and new-type agriculture equipment enjoy an especially broad market along the fast-growing private steel plants and the industrialization of agriculture.

Private enterprises and joint ventures begin to produce more machines than the state-owned enterprises, and make an overwhelmingly larger part of the profit. Therefore, Yu said, CMIFbegan to welcome enterprises, including joint ventures and private ones, to be its direct members from 2004.

Yu also predicted a continuous high growth of the industry and new records for the major products in 2004. He said the industry will produce 5.1 to 5.3 million automobiles, including 2.5 to 2.6 million cars, over 40 million-kilowatt electricity generating equipment, and over 40,000 numerical control machine tools this year.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2004)