China topped the US as the world’s largest manufacturer for the first time last year, according to a study on Monday by economic research firm IHS Global Insight.

China accounted for 19.8 percent of global manufacturing last year, compared with 19.4 percent for the US — US$1.995 trillion worth, compared with US$1.952 trillion, according to IHS.

However, by measures of productivity, China remained far behind the US, with US manufacturing workers generating more than eight times the value per person than China’s.

“In other words, the US manufacturing sector is producing roughly the same amount of output in 2010 with 11.5 million workers as opposed to its Chinese counterpart with around 100 million workers,” IHS said.

Japan remained a distant third last year, generating US$1.027 trillion by manufacturing, followed by Germany, with US$618 billion.

However, the most telling indicators were the pace of growth. From 2008 to last year, China’s manufacturing sector grew at a pace of 20.2 percent per year, while the US grew at 1.8 percent and Japan at 4.25 percent.

Source: Taipei Times