The sales of China's electric sector reached 1.88 trillion yuan (US$226.5 billion) in 2003, surging 34 percent from the previous year, figures from the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (CMII) show.

Exports of electric products totaled US$141 billion, accounting for almost one third of the country's exports.

Last year, China produced the largest number of television sets, mobile phones, programmed telephone exchanges and related products in the world.

Meanwhile, the sales of software and system integration products rose to 160 billion yuan, up 45 percent.

The sales of major electronics enterprises accounted for a large proportion of the total. Last year, eight enterprises reported over 20 billion yuan each in sales, one of which reported over 70 billion yuan.

In terms of industrial scale and competitive capacity, the electronics and information industry has become the leading economic sector in China, said Wang Xudong, minister of Information Industry.
 
(Xinhua News Agency 7, 2004)