China Building Materials Industry (New ed)

China is now one of the world's largest building materials producers with annual output of cement, plate glass, construction ceramics and sanitary ceramics ranking first in the world.

The building materials industry has been one of the pillar industries in China's economy.

It is also a significant component of the construction industry, accounting for about 15 per cent of the construction industry's industrial added value.

Driven by a bullish real estate market in 2003, all sectors of China's building materials industry have recorded profits.

The total industrial added value amounted to RMB 143.5 billion (USD 17.35 billion), representing an impressive annual growth rate of 26.5 per cent, the highest in the recent 10 years.

It is forecasted that such a growth pace will be maintained in 2004.

Cement manufacturing is the largest sector in China's building materials industry.

Among China's top 100 building materials companies in 2003, 59 were cement manufacturers.

This is 1.2 per cent of the total 4, 813 cement firms nationwide.