China: From consumer goods exporter to the ‘industrial mother machine’

SINCE 2009, China has remained the world’s largest exporter of goods. Not only have exports provided sustained support for the country’s economic growth, they have also played an important role in stabilising global supply, containing inflation and improving consumer welfare.

But today, China’s exports are undergoing a profound transformation. Its export model is shifting from simply producing goods for global consumers towards providing capacity for global production systems.

No longer merely a supplier of consumer goods to the world, the country is increasingly becoming an “industrial mother machine” for global industrial development – exporting equipment, technology, components and industrial capability itself.