The economic growth rate of Liaoning in China’s struggling north-east sank below zero in the first quarter, according to the local statistics bureau, making it the first province to register negative growth in seven years thanks to a severe downturn in China’s energy and heavy industry sectors.

China’s national growth clocked in at an annual rate of 6.7 per cent in the first quarter, but that masks sharp discrepancies between provinces reliant on heavy industry, mining or oil and the southern and eastern regions with more diversified economies.

Liaoning, one of two provinces yet to report gross domestic product figures for the first quarter, was expected to perform poorly. The downturn in coal and oil prices has hit hard in the north-east, formerly known as Manchuria. The largest economy among the three northeastern provinces, Liaoning boasts the manufacturing and high-tech city of Dalian but is also home to large and struggling steel mills.