For information only - not an official document
UNIS/OUS/412
19 February 2020
Re-issued as received
VIENNA, 19 February (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) - The rate of global manufacturing growth has declined for a second consecutive year, dropping to a marginal rate of two per cent in 2019, according to International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2020 published today by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
The growth of manufactured value added (MVA) of China, the world's largest manufacturer, has declined from 6.2 per cent in 2018 to 5.5 per cent in 2019. The growth of the United States' MVA dropped from 3.2 per cent in 2018 to 2.0 per cent in 2019. MVA growth in European and other industrialized economies has followed a similar trend.
Manufactured goods account for 80 per cent of the world's merchandise trade, and manufacturing has suffered from the direct consequences of a deceleration of commodity flows due to trade friction, mutual economic sanctions, uncertainties surrounding the Brexit and a deterioration in the overall business environment.
The slowdown in manufacturing in industrialized economies has in turn adversely affected manufacturing growth in developing and emerging industrial economies which fell to 2.0 per cent in 2019 compared to 3.2 per cent in 2018.
These declining trends in global manufacturing are observed just five years after the adoption of the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contrary to the SDG9 target to significantly increase the share of industrial sectors in Gross Domestic Product and total employment, the share of manufacturing in industrialized and emerging industrial economies in 2010-2019 has dropped. During the same period, MVA's share in GDP in other developing economies and least developed countries (LDCs) marginally increased. However the growth observed so far in developing countries falls short to the required pace for achieving SDG targets.
A closer look at data for LDCs shows that a few countries, namely Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Myanmar, have made significant progress in expanding their manufacturing industry. However many other LDCs, especially those in Africa, have experienced a decline in manufacturing and face the prospect of premature deindustrialization.
Analysis of sectoral data shows that China has surpassed the United States and Japan in production of motor vehicles. China accounts for more than 25 per cent of global motor vehicle production. Among other emerging economies, Mexico ranks fifth after Germany, and India ranks seventh after Republic of Korea.
Workers in developing countries realize far less benefit from manufacturing employment than those in industrialized economies. In Latin American countries, for example, the share of wages and salary of value added varies from 11.0 to 42.0 per cent. In contrast, in Germany and other European countries the share may amount to 45 per cent.
UNIDO's Yearbook presents detailed, country-specific, business structure statistics, which provide of empirical evidence for formulating industrial policy and carrying out comparative analysis of structural change and productivity. An analysis of global manufacturing's current growth trends is provided by quarterly reports.
Underlying country data from which the Yearbook was compiled are accessible online through the UNIDO Statistics Data Portal. UNIDO maintains an international industrial statistics database covering mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity gas and water supply and the international trade of manufactured goods. UNIDO data can be accessed online or obtained in CD products.
The International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2020 is a joint publication of UNIDO and Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-78990-570 0 (cased) 978-1-78990-571 7 (e-book)
The Yearbook can be ordered here
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For further information on the report, please contact:
Shyam
Upadhyaya
UNIDO Chief Statistician
Email: S.Upadhyaya[at]unido.org
