(Photo/Xinhua)

China’s light industry grew steadily in the first five months of 2019, official data revealed recently.

From January to May, the business revenue of large companies in the light industry stood at 7.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.7 percent year-on-year. Moreover, their profits rose 9.4 percent year-on-year to 473.9 billion yuan, 11.7 percentage points higher than the national industrial profit rise, according to data from the China National Light Industry Council (CNLIC).

The output of light industry products with high technology and more added-value also maintained robust growth. The output of solar batteries increased by 16.4 percent while that of electric bikes climbed 13.9 percent.

In the first five months, the export volume of products in the light industry grew by 9 percent to $255.6 billion, accounting for 26.7 percent of China’s total national export volume.

Data showed that the share of the country’s light industry exports to the U.S. fell from 24.5 percent last year to 20.8 percent in the first quarter of this year. However, the share of its light industry exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and countries along the Belt and Road increased by 1.1 percentage points to 11.6 percent, 1.9 percentage points to 20.8 percent and 2.12 percentage points to 28.3 percent, respectively.

Zhang Chonghe, president of CNLIC, attributed the steady growth of the sector to industrial upgrading, technological innovation, brand building, China’s measures including tax and fee cuts and improvement in the business environment, as well as a more balanced international market structure.

The CNLIC also released a list of China’s top 100 science and technology companies in the light industry for the first time in 2019.