China's Major Economic Indicators in August

Li Xiaochao

Spokesman

National Bureau of Statistics of China

11 September 2009

1. The industrial production continued to speed up.

In August, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 12.3 percent year-on-year, or 0.5 percentage points lower than that in August 2008, or 1.5 percentage point higher than that in July 2009; it was the fourth consecutive month which witnessed a acceleration of year-on-year growth. In the first eight months of this year, it was up 8.1 percent year-on-year, which was down by 7.6 percentage points over that in the same period of last year, or 0.6 percentage points higher than that in the first seven months in 2009.

Analysis on different types of enterprises showed that in August, 2009 the growth of the state-owned and state holding enterprises went up by 8.6 percent; collective enterprises, 10.9 percent; share-holding enterprises, 14.7 percent; and 8.0 percent growth for enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan province. The year-on-year growth of heavy industry in August was 13.2 percent, and 9.8 percent for the light industry.

Grouped by different sectors, in August all the 39 industrial divisions enjoyed year-on-year growth. Of this total, the growth of textile industry was 9.8 percent; the manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products, up by 18.2 percent; the manufacture of non-metallic mineral products, up by 17.3 percent; the manufacture of general machinery, 12.0 percent; the manufacture of transport equipment, 26.7 percent; the manufacture of electric machinery and equipment, 13.0 percent; the manufacture of communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment, 4.8 percent; the production and supply of electricity, gas and water, up 6.8 percent; and the ferrous metal smelting and pressing, up by 13.3 percent.

In terms of different products, of the total 494 products, the output of 364 products showed a year-on-year growth. Of this total, the output of coal was 260 million tons, up by 14.6 percent over the previous year; that of crude oil was 16.32 million tons, up by 1.6 percent; that of electricity was 334.3 billion kilowatt-hours, up by 9.3 percent; that of pig iron was 52.33 million tons, up by 22.0 percent; that of cement was 150 million tons, up by 24.0 percent; that of motor vehicles was 1,167 thousand, up by 90.0 percent, of which, the output of cars was 657 thousand, up by 96.2 percent.

The sales ratio of industrial products in August was 97.66 percent, or 0.28 percentage points lower than that in the previous month. The total export delivery value of industrial enterprises was 621.9 billion yuan, down by 15.4 percent year-on-year.

2. Urban investment in fixed assets speeded up to some extent.

In the first eight months of this year, the urban investment in fixed assets reached 11,298.5 billion yuan, up by 33.0 percent year-on-year, or 5.6 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year; it was 0.1 percentage point higher than that in the first seven months of this year. Of this total, that in the state-owned and state holding enterprises reached 4,872.9 billion yuan, a rise of 39.9 percent; that in the real estate was 2,114.7 billion yuan, up by 14.7 percent.

Grouped by jurisdiction of project management, in the first eight months of this year, the central investment reached 1,005.3 billion yuan, the year-on-year growth was 22.3 percent while the local investment was 10,293.2 billion yuan, up by 34.2 percent. Grouped by status of registration, in the first eight months of this year, the investment by domestic enterprises was 10,376.3 billion yuan, up by 36.8 percent; investment by funds from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan was   384.4 billion yuan, down by 0.8 percent; and the investment by foreign funds was 476.9 billion yuan, up by 1.1 percent.

In the first eight months of this year, the investment in primary industry, secondary industry and the tertiary industry went up by 60.4 percent, 27.0 percent and 37.3 percent respectively. Grouped by different sectors, in the first eight months of this year, the investment in coal mining and washing was 171.9 billion yuan, up by 36.0 percent; that in production and supply of electric power and heat power 626.9 billion yuan, up 23.5 percent; extraction of petroleum and natural gas 134.0 billion yuan, down by 7.1 percent; railway transport 310.6 billion yuan, up 103.5 percent.

Analysis on projects under construction or started this year showed that in the first eight months of this year, projects under construction numbered 339,768, an increase of 78,760 over the same period of last year; the total planned investment in projects under construction reached 33,984.4 billion yuan, up by 36.2 percent year-on-year; projects newly started this year totaled 234,906, a rise of 69,223; the total planned investment was 9,673.9 billion yuan, up by 81.7 percent over the same period of last year.

In terms of funds in place for investment, in the first eight months of this year, 13,200.7 billion yuan had been invested, a year-on-year growth of 39.1 percent. Of this total, the growth of government budgetary funds went up by 82.7 percent; investment from domestic loans went up 47.4 percent; that from self-raising funds went up by 33.3 percent and that from foreign investment down by 12.1 percent,

3. Retail sales of consumer goods increased steadily.

In August, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 1,011.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 15.4 percent, which was 7.8 percentage points lower than that in August, 2008, or 0.2 percentage point higher than that in the previous month of this year. In the first eight months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods were 7,876.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 15.1 percent, or down by 6.8 percentage points over that in the same period of last year. It was 0.1 percentage point higher over that in the first seven months of this year.

Analyzed by different areas, the retail sales in cities reached 693.5 billion yuan in August, up by 15.3 percent, and the retail sales at and below county level stood at 318.1 billion yuan, up by 15.5 percent.

Grouped by different sectors, in August, the sales by wholesale and retail businesses reached 849.5 billion yuan, up by 15.4 percent, that by lodging and catering industry was 145.4 billion yuan, up by 16.8 percent, others 16.7 billion yuan, up 2.8 percent.

Grouped by commodity categories, the sales of grain and oil went up by 12.7 percent; meat, poultry and eggs up by 5.9 percent; clothing, up 23.3 percent; articles for daily use, up15.6 percent; household appliances, music and video equipment, up 10.9 percent; motor vehicles, up 34.8 percent; petroleum and products, up 6.8 percent; building and decoration materials, up 36.6 percent.

4. The decrement rate of consumer prices (year-on-year change) reduced, month-on-month change went up.

In August, the consumer price index went down by 1.2 percent year-on-year (it was 4.8 percent growth in August 2008), or the decrement rate narrowed by 0.6 percentage point over that in the previous month. In August, the price dropped by 1.3 percent in cities and 1.0 percent in rural areas year-on-year. The food price went up by 0.5 percent while the non-food price dropped by 2.0 percent. The prices of consumer goods went down by 1.1 percent, and the prices of services down by 1.5 percent. In the first eight months, the year-on-year change of consumer price was down by 1.2 percent (it was 7.3 percent growth the same period a year ago), or maintained the same level over that in the first seven months of this year. Grouped by commodity categories, in August, of the eight categories of commodities, three of them experienced prices rise and the rest five witnessed prices decline. Of which, prices for food up by 0.5 percent, prices for tobacco, liquor and articles up by 1.3 percent, price for clothing went down by 2.2 percent, prices for household facilities, articles and maintenance services down by 0.7 percent, health care and personal articles up by 0.9 percent; clothing down by percent, transportation and communication down by 2.9 percent, recreation, education, culture articles and services down by 0.9 percent, and housing down by 5.4 percent.

In August this year, month-on-month change of consumer price was up by 0.5 percent. Of which, price in cities went up by 0.4 percent and that in rural areas went up by 0.6 percent. The food price went up by 1.3 percent while the non-food price up by 0.1 percent. The price of consumer goods went up by   0.6 percent, and the price of services up by 0.1 percent. Grouped by commodity categories, in August, prices for food up by 1.3 percent month-on-month, prices for tobacco, liquor and articles up by 0.3 percent, price for clothing went down by 0.3 percent, prices for household facilities, articles and maintenance services down by 0.1 percent, health care and personal articles up by 0.1 percent; transportation and communication down by 0.3 percent, recreation, education, culture articles and services maintained unchanged, and housing up by 0.5 percent.

5. The decrement of producers’ prices for manufactured goods (year-on-year change) narrowed down, the month-on-month change continued to rise.

In August, the producers’ prices for manufactured goods went down by 7.9 percent year-on-year (it was 10.1 percent growth in August 2008), or the decrement rate was 0.3 percentage point less that in the previous month. In the first eight months of this year, the year-on-year change of the producers’ price for manufactured good was down by 6.4 percent (it was up 8.2 percent the same period a year ago), which was 0.2 percentage points lower over that in the first seven months of this year. The producers’ prices for means of production went down by 9.7 percent year-on-year in August, of which that for mining and quarrying industry down by 25.9 percent, raw materials industry down 11.5 percent and processing industry down by 6.9 percent. The producers’ prices for means of livelihood dropped by 1.9 percent, of which, the food prices down by 2.3 percent, clothing 0.4 percent, articles for daily use down by 1.8 percent and durable consumer goods down by 2.3 percent. In August, the month-on-month change of the producers’ prices for manufactured good went up by 0.8 percent, which was the fifth consecutive month of growth.

In August, the purchaser’s prices for raw materials, fuel and power decreased by 11.4 percent year-on-year (it was up 15.3 percent in August 2008), the decrement was 0.3 percentage point less over that in the previous month. In the first eight months of this year, the purchaser’s prices for raw materials, fuel and power decreased by 9.4 percent year-on-year (it was up 12.2 percent in the same period of last year), or 0.2 percentage point lower than that in the first seven months of this year. In August, the year-on-year change of prices for nonferrous metals, fuel and power, ferrous metals and raw chemical materials and wire went down by 20.9 percent, 17.0 percent, 19.2 percent and 11.3 percent respectively.

Main Statistical Data in August