Ministry: Addressing bottlenecks, commodity costs key to industry

China's industrial economy has continued the trend of stabilization in the first two months of this year, and more efforts will be made to cope with challenges including rising commodity prices and bottlenecks in supply chains, Xiao Yaqing, minister of industry and information technology, said on Tuesday.

Xiao, who is also a deputy to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, said the industrial economy is running stably, but there are still many difficulties, such as rising raw material prices, increased transportation costs, sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks and changes in the external environment.

The ministry will take more steps to maneuver through both supply chain and industrial chain bottlenecks, such as the supply of staple commodities, as well as key parts and components, Xiao said.

More efforts will also be made to give full play to the nation's comprehensive industrial system to stabilize both supply chains and industry chains.

The plans come after China's manufacturing output exceeded 31 trillion yuan ($5 trillion) last year, tops worldwide for the 12th consecutive year. It accounted for about 27.4 percent of the nation's GDP in 2021.

Xiao said China has more than 1.42 million 5G base stations so far, and the number is expected to exceed 2 million by the end of this year.

It is necessary to continue increasing research of core communications technologies, and at the same time, consider the technology research needs in the evolution to 6G, he added.