The Chinese electronics industry is still too dependent on imported high-end products and oversupply in the low-end sector remains a problem, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday.

China's IT and electronics industry revenue reached 6.51 trillion yuan (US$957 billion) last year, a 3.4 percent growth year on year, compared with a 12.5 percent growth rate in 2008, the ministry said.

Zhou Zixue, the ministry's chief economist said the industry output grew rapidly in the past 10 years but structure problems still exist in the industry because of historic legacy and the economic environment.

Zhou said IT and electronics exports grew rapidly but Chinese high-end IT products still depended on imports. Meanwhile, the majority of export-oriented firms were invested by overseas capital and there was a lack of strong home-grown firms.

In 2009, IT exports reached US$457.2 billion, accounting for 38.1 percent of total exports nationwide, compared with only 20 percent in 1999, the ministry said.

China is now the world's biggest personal computer and mobile phone manufacturing base.Almost all the top brands have OEM (original equipment manufacturer) plants on the Chinese mainland, from Apple Inc and Hewlett-Packard to Microsoft Corp.

Workers are involved only in assembly and packaging in the plants on the Chinese mainland, which created low added value, industry insiders said.

Among total IT exporters in China, about 66.6 percent of firms are invested by overseas capital, followed by 15.8 percent as joint ventures.

The state-owned enterprises and private firms only accounted for less than 20 percent, the ministry said.After the global financial crisis, China has adapted the industry structure to develop high added value sectors, such as software.

In 2009, the software industry revenue was 951.3 billion yuan, accounting for 14.6 percent of total IT revenue, 2.6 percentage points more than the previous year, the ministry said.