MKsportaerial photo taken on July 17, 2023 shows the view of a marine farm in Jianggezhuang township, Laoting county, North China's Hebei Province. Photo: Xinhua" src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2025/2025-02-24/41e44e90-0abc-4b35-83cd-a9c96c85c2df.jpeg" />

This aerial photo taken on July 17, 2023 shows the view of a marine farm in Jianggezhuang township, Laoting county, North China's Hebei Province. Photo: Xinhua

China's total output of marine economy surpassed the 10 trillion yuan ($1.38 trillion) mark for the first time last year, contributing 0.4 percentage points to national economic growth, according to the "2024 China Marine Economy Statistical Bulletin" released by China's Ministry of Natural Resources on Monday.

According to the report, the national gross marine product reached 10.54 trillion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent, 0.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the gross domestic product. 

A key takeaway from the report is the crucial role played by China's marine manufacturing sector in the economy. In 2024, the added value of the marine manufacturing sector reached 3.18 trillion yuan, representing more than 30 percent of the gross marine product.

Specifically, the added value of China's marine shipbuilding industry reached 137 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.9 percent, according to the report.

For the first time, China's share of newly received, completed and existing seagoing vessel orders for China-made seagoing vessels, measured in compensated gross tonnage, surpassed 50 percent in the international market, the report said. The marine engineering equipment manufacturing sector continued to recover, maintaining the top global market share for seven consecutive years.

Meanwhile, the marine service sector remained a key driver of economic growth. In particular, the marine tourism market has experienced strong growth, the report said, noting that the added value of the marine tourism industry grew 9.2 percent year-on-year to 1.61 trillion yuan in 2024.

Moreover, the development and utilization of marine resources have seen continuous enhancement.

In the energy sector, the development of offshore oil and gas and marine mining continued to advance, achieving certain improvements. Offshore crude oil production increased by 4.7 percent year-on-year and natural gas production rose by 8.7 percent year-on-year.

Moreover, offshore wind power has gradually entered into a new stage scale and cluster development, with annual offshore wind power generation increasing 30 percent year on year, accelerating China's transition to a greener, low-carbon economy.

"China's marine economy has firmly transitioned toward high-quality development... Not only is the overall growth rate of the marine economy exceeding overall GDP growth, but we've also achieved significant progress in strategic emerging sectors such as marine modern manufacturing and deep-sea mining," Liu Shuguang, a professor of the Ocean University of China, told the Global Times on Monday, noting that these achievements reflect the China's substantial advancements in the modern marine industry.

Looking ahead to 2025, Liu predicted significant potential across a wide range of sectors in the future development of the marine economy.

"For example, the marine engineering equipment manufacturing sector will evolve toward large-scale production, greater automation, sustainability and higher integration. As it develops, it will become a key national industry," he noted.