During the first half of 2009, China's shipbuilding industry registered double-digit increases year on year in both output value and export value, though the growth rates were down on the previous year. Meanwhile, China's completed shipbuilding output surged strongly, while newly-undertaken ship orders dropped considerably, indicating the negative impact of the financial crisis on the shipbuilding industry.
In the first six months of 2009, the Chinese shipbuilding industry achieved a total output value of RMB 256.1 billion ($37.5 billion), up 36.7 percent year on year. The growth was down 21.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
The export revenues of Chinese shipbuilding enterprises during the period in question reached RMB 119.1 billion ($17.4 billion), up 23.7 percent year on year. This growth rate was down 40 percentage points year on year.
Meanwhile, in the first half of 2009 the completed shipbuilding output of 70 key enterprises in the sector totaled 12.33 million deadweight tons, up 60.2 percent year on year; while newly-undertaken ship orders were 5.46 million deadweight tons, a slump of 80.7 percent year on year.