Disputing China’s manufacturing edge

John Engler, the president of America’s National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), has written a piece in the Financial Times disputing the newspaper’s article last week arguing China is about to come the world’s largest manufacturing power (see 12 August post):

“China has a long way to go to catch up with the US. The NAM’s analysis shows that in terms of real manufacturing value-added (price-adjusted, to reflect the quantity of output) the US remains by far the world’s largest manufacturer, producing nearly one-fourth of the world’s industrial output. Based on the highly respected World Bank database, our analysis also shows that we will produce twice as much this year as the fourth placed economy, China (the European Union and Japan are in second and third position, respectively). Even in current measures of manufacturing denominated in dollars (which inflate China’s position because of the rising yuan and other factors), China will produce only about 60 per cent as much as the US in 2008.”