Biotech industry likely to surge until 2015

China plans to keep the growth rate for its biotechnology industry above 20 percent year-on-year from 2013 to 2015, in a bid to spur domestic consumption, the nation's cabinet said on Sunday.

The cabinet listed 11 key projects, covering biomedical, agriculture and environmental protection areas, where biotechnology could boost productivity.

The biomedical sector is one of the major sectors in the plan. The country expects to lift the turnover of this market to 400 billion yuan ($64 billion) by 2015.

The government also named the bio industry as one of the seven emerging industries that are critical for the nation's development.

The market scale of the biotech industry hit nearly 2 trillion yuan in 2011.

gaoyuan@chinadaily.com.cn