1st Ld-Writethru: China to fund major projects to upgrade manufacturing

China will support ten key manufacturing projects through 2018 to upgrade the sector, a notice by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Wednesday.

The projects will aim to keep annual growth of value-added industrial output in the manufacturing industry above 7 percent, according to the notice jointly released by the NDRC and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Corporate investment in upgrades should grow 15 percent annually on average after three years, the notice said.

The government will promote digitization of traditional factories and equipment by making good use of information technology such as the Internet, cloud computing and big data.

Manufacturing processes and basic materials will be improved to become cleaner and more energy-efficient.

Development of advanced equipment for oceanic engineering, rail transportation, robotics, medical devices, and new energy vehicles will be supported.

Projects in space flight and aviation, electronic information, improvements in quality and branding, and key industrial base construction will be supported.

To build a more advanced, smarter, greener and service-oriented manufacturing sector, the government will support enterprises in independent innovation and efficient use of resources.

The projects follow China's "Made in China 2025" blueprint, announced in May 2015, which aims to improve manufacturing and shift the country away from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

China's value-added industrial output grew 6.1 percent year on year in 2015, lower than the 8.3-percent growth in 2014. Manufacturing output expanded 7 percent in 2015, 2.4 percentage points lower than the previous year.

The country's economy expanded 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, the weakest reading in around a quarter of a century, and the government is intensifying efforts to replace old growth drivers with new ones to sustain growth. Endi