Auto production, sales post steady growth

F.P. Report

BEIJING: China’s auto production and sales rose 7.4 percent and 7.9 percent year on year, respectively, in the first seven months of this year, posting steady growth, according to an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, MIIT official Wang Weiming said China is striving to increase its annual automobile sales by 3% to 27 million in 2023. Wang added that it is necessary to strengthen departmental coordination and create policy synergy to stabilize and expand the consumption of new energy vehicles and petrol vehicles.

However, growth challenges persist in the auto industry, with mounting global uncertainties and the continued triple pressure of domestic demand contraction, supply shocks and weakening expectations, the official noted, adding that the task of stabilizing the growth of the industry is arduous.

China’s industrial authorities on Saturday unveiled a plan to maintain stable growth of the country’s machinery industry in 2023-2024. The plan, jointly released by the MIIT and six other government departments, mainly focuses on 11 sectors, including machine tools, agricultural machinery and construction machinery.

China expects the industry’s operating revenue to reach 8.1 trillion yuan (about 1.13 trillion US dollars) by 2024, according to the plan.

Efforts will be made to expand demand, promote the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, improve the quality of supply and make policy implementation more targeted, the plan stated.

Meanwhile, the Chinese tech giant Huawei has announced the opening of a cloud data center in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, as part of its efforts to expand its online service offerings in the Middle East.

Huawei said in a statement that the new center will become a core data center for Huawei Cloud Services in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa, “offering innovative, reliable, secure, and sustainable cloud services.”

The new data center in Riyadh will provide a range of cloud services, including infrastructure, databases, big data, and artificial intelligence, etc., the statement said.

Praising Huawei as “a proud partner” of Saudi Arabia in its technological progress, Haitham bin Abdul Rahman Al-Ohali, Saudi Vice Minister of Communications and Information Technology said the Chinese tech giant has been working with the ministry, local service providers, enterprises and universities in various collective efforts towards digital transformation.

“We look forward to the transformative impact the new data center will have on our digital ecosystem, creating new avenues for innovation and growth.” He added.
Steven Yi, senior vice president of Huawei and president of Huawei Middle East and Central Asia Region, lauded the business environment in Saudi Arabia.

“Create an inviting environment, and you’ll attract the best. This is undeniably true for Saudi Arabia, a nation that consistently attracts top investors,” said Yi. (APP)