GUANGZHOU - Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse in South China, plans to put another 20,000 industrial robots into use this year, aimed at sharpening its edge in manufacturing.

Guangdong governor Ma Xingrui announced the plan Thursday when delivering a government work report at the local parliamentary session.

"The province will intensify efforts to digitalize the manufacturing sector and make the industry smarter and greener," Ma said.

Guangdong's development will focus on the real economy, with manufacturing as the foundation, he said.

The robot industry has been listed as a key development area in the national "Made in China 2025" strategy, as the country is the biggest market for industrial robots in the world.

The output of China's industrial robots exceeded 100,000 in the first 10 months of 2017, up 70 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The market volume of China's industrial robots is expected to reach $4.2 billion in 2017 and increase to $5.9 billion in 2020.