China's marine economy grows 4.9% in Jan-Sept

BEIJING -- China's gross ocean product reached 8.5 trillion yuan (about $1.27 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, up 4.9 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The marine economy maintained steady growth, with an improved structure, stronger resilience and growing momentum, moving toward innovative and high-quality development, the ministry said.

In the first three quarters, the country's offshore crude oil output rose 3.5 percent year-on-year, and the output of seawater aquatic products rose 4.6 percent year-on-year.

In terms of traditional marine industries, new shipbuilding orders, completed orders and order backlogs rose 98.5 percent, 35 percent and 41.9 percent year-on-year, respectively; meanwhile, China maintained its lead in global market share. Coastal port cargo throughput and container throughput rose 1.6 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

Emerging marine industries improved in both quality and efficiency. In particular, the value of new orders for marine engineering equipment surged 123.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for more than 80 percent of the global market.

The seawater desalination and comprehensive utilization industry made new progress, with the combined capacity of newly launched desalination projects this year exceeding 520,000 metric tons per day.

China's marine tourism maintained stable growth in the first three quarters, the ministry said.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said marine tourism is characterized by strong experiential attributes, high technological content, and extensive industry linkages. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), it is necessary to connect coastal cities, bays, ports, and islands to establish a south-north marine tourism corridor to create marine industry growth points that support the building of a tourism powerhouse.