SHENYANG, Sept 19 Asia Pulse - chinese manufacturing industry had edged into the top four in the world, according to a Sino-Europe economic and trade meeting held in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast of China Liaoning Province.

The country''''s manufacturing industry has outstripped the growth of GDP, becoming the biggest industrial sector and an important part of the national economy. Its taxes and employees account for 90 per cent of the total of the industrial sector, and export takes 91.2 per cent of the total, said Xu Kuangdi, president of the China Engineering Academy.

Under the present globalization trend, China''''s low labor cost has helped accelerate shift of manufacturing from Europe to China.

Xu Said that China''''s manufacturing grows in cooperation with foreign counterparts. Chinese enterprises hopes EU countries to introduce advanced industrial technology into China in combination with China''''s market and resources for the purpose of achieving sustainable development.

However, China''''s manufacturing industry still lags far behind the advanced level of foreign countries. The per capita labor productivity of Chinas manufacturing stands at 38,000 yuan (US$4,699) annually, which is only 4 per cent of that of the United State and Japan, and 5.5 per cent of that of Germany. China''''s export of machinery and electronic products are mainly labor-intensive and low-technological products.

Participants at the meeting held that to achieve rapid development, China''''s manufacturing industry must accept the shift from Europe, persist in opening to the outside world, and participate in the globalization of economy.

At the same time, the sector is urged to step up efforts in research and development, and raise capability of integration and innovation, so as to realize transformation from a processing factory of low-end products to a production base of high added-value products.

China''''s manufacturing industry is divided into three categories. First category covers foodstuff, beverage, tobacco processing, garment, textiles, leather, timber processing, furniture and printing, which account for 30.2 per cent of the industry. Second category covers resource processing including petrochemicals, chemical fiber, pharmaceutical production, rubber, plastic and ferrous metals, which account for 33 per cent of the total. Third category covers machine building, electronics manufacturing including machine tool, special-purpose equipment, transportation tool, machinery, electronic and communications equipment and appliances, which account for 35.5 per cent of the total.