'China has overtaken the US to become the world's largest industrial producer'

[Popular Front of Judea]

This is an epochal shift, if true.

The period since the international financial crisis began has for the first time in over a century seen the US displaced as the world’s largest industrial producer – this position has now been taken by China. It has also witnessed the greatest shift in the balance of global industrial production in such a short period in world economic history. In 2010 China’s industrial output exceeded the US marginally but this has now been consolidated into a more than 20% lead with the gap still widening further.

China has overtaken the US to become the world's largest industrial producer | Socialist Economic Bulletin
(http://socialisteconomicbulletin.blogspot.com/2013/09/china-has-overtaken-us-to-become-worlds.html)

[robbo203]

This is an epochal shift, if true.

The period since the international financial crisis began has for the first time in over a century seen the US displaced as the world’s largest industrial producer – this position has now been taken by China. It has also witnessed the greatest shift in the balance of global industrial production in such a short period in world economic history. In 2010 China’s industrial output exceeded the US marginally but this has now been consolidated into a more than 20% lead with the gap still widening further.

China has overtaken the US to become the world's largest industrial producer | Socialist Economic Bulletin
(http://socialisteconomicbulletin.blogspot.com/2013/09/china-has-overtaken-us-to-become-worlds.html)



Is it just me but I find these figures rather dodgy to say the least. Consider this:

n 2007, on UN data, China’s total industrial production was only 62% of the US level. By 2011, the latest available comparable statistics, China’s industrial output had risen to 120% of the US level. China’s industrial production in 2011 was $2.9 trillion compared to $2.4 trillion in the US – this data is shown in Figure 1.

Is it really conceivable that in the space of 5 short years China's industrial output has risen from 62& of the US level to 120% . That seems like a fantasy world scenario. How could such a massive economy as the US contract so sharply for this to happen? Alternatively, how could Chinese state capitalism have expanded so rapidly in relative terms as to account for the difference - particularly when Chinese manufacturing was likewise affected by the recent global economic crisis?

We have known for quite a while from comparative growth rates that China was scheduled to overtake the US as the world's number 1 economy but something doesn't quite add up with these particular figures...