SHIJIAZHUANG - Equipment manufacturing has surpassed iron and steel to become the pillar industry of North China's Hebei province, amid its fight against overcapacity and pollution, authorities have said.

Equipment manufacturing accounted for 27 percent of the industrial value added of the province in 2017, said Yang Jingxiang, head of the provincial statistics bureau.

It was 2.2 percentage points higher than the share contributed by the iron and steel sector, Yang said Wednesday at the meeting on the provincial economy.

He said equipment manufacturing contributed to nearly 88.9 percent of industrial growth in the province last year, with huge investment poured into the sector. The percentage was 18.9 percent in 2013.

The shift came after Hebei made efforts to cut iron and steel production capacity for structural economic transformation as well as pollution control.

From 2013 to 2017, the province overshot its five-year target and cut production capacity of steel and iron by 70 million and 64 million tons, respectively. It plans to further cut 10 million tons of iron and steel capacity this year.