Despite a sharp and record-breaking rise in overall global arms sales last year, the combined revenue of the eight Chinese firms listed in the weapons industry’s Top 100 fell drastically, a Swedish think tank has found.
The 10 per cent fall to US$88.3 billion was also the biggest aggregated percentage drop among the countries with companies in the list, released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The performance of the Chinese weapons giants was in stark contrast with counterparts from Japan and South Korea, which saw sharp increases in their revenues as global arms sales hit record highs, according to the SIPRI report.
Norinco, China’s largest producer of ground-based weapons, recorded the sharpest decline, with a 31 per cent drop in arms revenue from US$20.31 billion in 2023 to US$13.97 billion last year. Its global ranking also fell from 10th to 11th place.
According to the report, this was mainly because of government reviews and delays to contracts with Norinco after the chairman of the company’s board and head of its military division were removed last year amid an anti-corruption investigation.
