Today, at the 2024 World Manufacturing Conference held in Hefei, China, the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Entrepreneurs Association released the list of the top 500 manufacturing enterprises in China for 2024 (referred to as “the top 500 enterprises”). The top 10 on the list are: Sinopec, Baowu Steel Group, Sinochem Group, China Minmetals, Wantai Group, SAIC Motor, Huawei, FAW Group, Rongsheng Group, and BYD.

Liang Yan, the vice president of the China Enterprise Confederation who is based in the organization, introduced that the large manufacturing enterprises represented by the top 500 have six major characteristics of development. One of the characteristics is the prominent role of support and leadership. He gave an example, in 2023, the global share of China’s manufacturing output was about 30%, ranking first in the world for the 14th consecutive year. In addition, among the top 100 leading enterprises in China’s strategic emerging industries, the top 100 innovative enterprises in China, and the top 100 Chinese transnational companies, respectively, there were 68, 76, and 59 manufacturing enterprises.

Liang Yan said that the second characteristic is stable revenue growth. In 2023, the top 500 enterprises achieved a combined revenue of 5.201 trillion yuan, up 1.86% from the previous year. In addition, in 2023, the top 500 enterprises achieved a combined net profit of 119 billion yuan, down 5.77% from the previous year, the decline narrowed by 7.86 percentage points, showing a general trend of narrowing economic efficiency decline.

Liang Yan said that the top 500 enterprises also showcased an increasing role of innovation driving, continuous conversion of new and old driving forces, and a more stable outward expansion. For example, the top 500 enterprises invested a combined 1.23 trillion yuan in R&D in 2023, up 12.51% from the previous year; the revenue growth rate of the top 500 enterprises in the battery storage, wind and solar energy equipment manufacturing industries in 2023 were all over 10%, while the net profit