National Bureau of Statistics of China

February 26, 2009

In 2008, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the people of all nationalities of China, taking as the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of “Three Represents”, implemented earnestly the scientific approach to the economic and social development, they united as one with indomitable spirit to fight against the grief natural disasters and international financial crisis, national economy kept fast growth and all social undertakings achieved new progress.

I. General Outlook

In 2008, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the year was 30,067.0 billion yuan, up by 9.0 percent over the previous year. Analyzed by different industries, the value added of the primary industry was 3,400.0 billion yuan, up by 5.5 percent, that of the secondary industry was 14,618.3 billion yuan, up by 9.3 percent and the tertiary industry was 12,048.7 billion yuan, up by 9.5 percent. The value added of the primary industry accounted for 11.3 percent of the GDP, up by 0.2 percentage point over that in the pervious year, that of the secondary industry accounted for 48.6 percent, up by 0.1 percentage point, and that of the tertiary industry accounted for 40.1 percent, down by 0.3 percentage point.

The general level of consumer prices in China was up by 5.9 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the prices for food went up by 14.3 percent. The prices for investment in fixed assets were up by 8.9 percent. The producer prices for manufactured goods increased by 6.9 percent, of which, the prices for means of production increased by 7.7 percent, and for means of subsistence grew by 4.1 percent. The purchasing prices for raw materials, fuels and power went up by 10.5 percent. The producer prices for farm products were up by 14.1 percent. The prices for means of agricultural production were up by 20.3 percent. The sales prices for housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities were up by 6.5 percent, of which, that for new residential buildings went up by 7.1 percent, for second hand housing grew by 6.2 percent, and the prices for rental and leasing were up by 1.4 percent.

Table 1: General Level of Consumer Prices in 2008 

Unit: %

Item	National Average
		Urban	Rural
General level of consumer prices	5.9	5.6	6.5
Food	14.3	14.5	14.0
Of Which: Grain	7.0	7.2	6.7
Meat, poultry and related products	21.7	22.6	20.0
Oil	25.4	24.9	25.9
Fresh eggs	3.7	3.8	3.6
Fresh vegetables	10.7	10.5	11.3
Fresh fruits	9.0	8.9	9.3
Tobaccos and alcohols	2.9	3.1	2.6
Clothing	-1.5	-1.8	-0.6
Household appliances and services	2.8	3.0	2.4
Medical, health and personal articles	2.9	2.8	3.2
Transportation and telecommunications	-0.9	-1.6	0.7
Recreational, educational, cultural articles and services	-0.7	-0.9	-0.1
Housing	5.5	4.3	8.2

At the end of 2008, the total of employed people in China numbered 774.80 million, 4.90 million more than that of 2007. Of this total, 302.10 million were employed in urban areas, a net increase of 8.60 million, a newly increase of 11.13 million. The urban unemployment rate through unemployment registration was 4.2 percent at the end of 2008, an increase of 0.2 percentage point over that of 2007.

At the end of 2008, China’s foreign exchange reserves reached 1,946.0 billion US dollars, an increase of 417.8 billion US dollars as compared with that at the end of the pervious year. At the end of the year, the exchange rate was 6.8346 RMB to 1 USD, an appreciation by 6.9 percent over that at the end of 2007.

The taxes collected in the whole year reached 5,786.2 billion yuan (excluding tariffs, farm land taxes and deed taxes), up by 17.0 percent or an increase of 841.3 billion yuan over 2007.

II. Agriculture

In 2008, the sown area of grain was 106.70 million hectares, an increase of 1.06 million hectares as compared with that in the previous year; the sown area of cotton was 5.76 million hectares, a decline of 170 thousand hectares; the sown area of oil-bearing crops was 12.71 million hectares, an increase of 1.39 million hectares; the sown area of sugar crops was 1.93 million hectares, an increase of 130 thousand hectares.

The total output of grain in 2008 was 528.50 million tons, an increase of 26.90 million tons or up by 5.4 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the output of summer crops was 120.41 million tons, up by 2.6 percent, and that of the early rice was 31.58 million tons, maintaining the same level of the previous year. The output of autumn grain was 376.51 million tons, an increase of 6.7 percent.

In 2008, the output of cotton was 7.50 million tons, a decrease of 1.6 percent over the previous year, that of oil-bearing crops was 29.50 million tons, up by 14.8 percent and that of sugar crops was 130.00 million tons, an increase of 6.7 percent, that of tobacco was 2.60 million tons, up by 19.6 percent, and that of tea was 1.24 million tons, up by 6.4 percent.

The total output of meat for the year reached 72.69 million tons, up by 5.9 percent. Of this total, the output of pork was 46.15 million tons, up by 7.6 percent, and that of beef and mutton was 6.10 and 3.76 million tons, down by 0.5 percent and 1.8 percent respectively. At the end of the year, 462.64 million pigs are registered in the total stocks, up by 5.2 percent, and 609.60 million pigs are slaughtered, up by 7.9 percent. The production of milk was 36.51 million tons, up by 3.6 percent; the total output of eggs was 26.38 million tons, up by 4.3 percent.

The total output of aquatic products was 48.95 million tons, up by 3.1 percent. Of this total, the output of cultured aquatic products was 34.26 million tons, up by 4.5 percent; and that of fished aquatic products was 14.69 million tons, maintaining the same level of the previous year.

The total production of timber for the year 2008 reached 78.94 million cubic meters, an increase of 13.2 percent.

Over 1.179 million hectares of farmland was increased with effective irrigation systems and another additional 1.390 million hectares of farmland was guaranteed by water-saving irrigation systems.

III. Industry and Construction

In 2008, the total value added of the industrial sector was 12,911.2 billion yuan, up by 9.5 percent over the previous year. The value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 12.9 percent. Of this total, that of the state-owned and state-holding enterprises grew by 9.1 percent, that of the collective enterprises went up by 8.1 percent, that of the share-holding enterprises increased by 15.0 percent, that of the enterprises by foreign investors and investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan soared by 9.9 percent and 20.4 percent growth for private enterprises. Analyzed by light and heavy industries, the growth of the light industry was 12.3 percent and that of the heavy industry was 13.2 percent.

In 2008, of the industrial enterprises above designated size, the growth of value added for the mining and washing of coal industry was 19.1 percent over the previous year, for the extraction of petroleum and natural gas was 6.1 percent, for culture and education, sporting goods manufacturing industry 18.2 percent, for gas production and supply industry 26.8 percent, for processing of food from agricultural product 15.0 percent, for manufacture of general machinery 16.9 percent, for manufacture of transport equipment 15.2 percent, for manufacture of communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment 12.0 percent and for manufacture of electrical machinery and equipment 18.1 percent, for chemical fiber manufacturing industry 2.2 percent. The growth of the value added for the major six high energy consuming industries were 10.0 percent, of which, that of the manufacture of non-metallic mineral products was 16.9 percent, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals 8.2 percent, manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products 10.0 percent, smelting and pressing of non-ferrous metals 12.3 percent, production and supply of electric power and heat power 8.6 percent and 4.3 percent for processing of petroleum, coking, processing of nuclear fuel. The value added growth for the high-tech industry was 14.0 percent over the previous year.

In 2008, the value added of construction enterprises in China was 1,707.1 billion yuan, up by 7.1 percent over the previous year. The profits made by construction enterprises qualified for general contracts and specialized contracts reached 175.6 billion yuan, up by 12.5 percent, of which the profits made by the state-owned and state-holding enterprises were 50.9 billion yuan, up by 21.8 percent. Their paid taxes were 205.8 billion yuan, up by 20.0 percent, of which the taxes paid by the state-owned and state-holding enterprises were 77.1 billion yuan, up by 24.7 percent.

IV. Investment in Fixed Assets

The completed investment in fixed assets of the country in 2008 was 17,229.1 billion yuan, up by 25.5 percent over the previous year. Of the total investment, that in urban areas was 14,816.7 billon yuan, up by 26.1 percent; and that in rural areas reached 2,412.4 billion yuan, up by 21.5 percent. An analysis by regions showed that the investment in east areas was 8,741.2 billion yuan, up by 20.9 percent over the previous year, in central areas was 4,538.4 billion yuan, a growth of 32.6 percent, and in western areas 3,583.9 billion yuan, a growth of 26.9 percent.

In the urban areas, the investment in the primary industry was 225.6 billion yuan, up by 54.5 percent; that in the secondary industry was 6,503.6 billion yuan, up by 28.0 percent; and that in the tertiary industry was 8,087.5 billion yuan, up by 24.1 percent.