The industrial production value added grew by 5.2% year on year, while the service sector expanded by 5.4%. Notably, contact-intensive services such as accommodation and catering experienced rapid growth.

The total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.8% year on year, recovering from a 2.7% decline in Q4 2022. Upgraded goods showed significant growth, with online retail sales reaching 3,286.3 billion yuan, up 8.6%.

Investment in fixed assets remained steady, with a year-on-year increase of 5.1%, while high-tech industries witnessed a 16.0% growth in investment. Investment in social sectors, such as health and education, also increased by 8.3%.

Imports and exports of goods continued to grow, with a 4.8% increase in total value. Exports grew by 8.4%, and imports by 0.2%. The trade balance showed a surplus of 1,409.0 billion yuan.

Consumer prices rose mildly, with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increasing by 1.3% year on year. Meanwhile, producer prices for industrial products dropped by 1.6% year on year.

Employment remained generally stable, with the urban surveyed unemployment rate averaging 5.5% in Q1. By the end of the quarter, the number of rural migrant workers totaled 181.95 million.

Residents’ income increased steadily, with per capita disposable income reaching 10,870 yuan, a nominal growth of 5.1% year on year. Rural residents’ income grew faster than that of urban residents, showing real growth of 4.8% compared to 2.7% for urban residents.

Although the national economy demonstrated a steady recovery, challenges persist due to the complex global situation, inadequate domestic demand, and an unstable economic recovery foundation.

China must focus on economic stability and pursue progress while maintaining stability to address these challenges. Efforts should be directed towards high-quality development, deepening reforms, promoting high-standard opening up, and unleashing the potential of domestic demand.

The GDP growth in 2022 was primarily driven by the mining sector (7.3%), manufacturing (3.0%) and production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water (5.0%).

High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing also grew at a faster rate (7.4% and 5.6% respectively). Agriculture and animal husbandry also saw an increase in output.

In 2022, China’s total value of imports and exports of goods was 42,067.8 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7% compared to the previous year. The total value of exports was up by 10.5%, and the total value of imports was up by 4.3%.

The trade balance was in surplus by 5,863.0 billion yuan. The imports and exports by private enterprises grew by 12.9%, and the imports and exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 2.5%.

The consumer price in 2022 went up by 2.0% compared to the previous year, with the highest increase in transportation and communication (5.2%). The producer prices for industrial products went up by 4.1% and the purchasing prices for industrial producers went up by 6.1%.

Employment was generally stable, and the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.5%. The number of rural migrant workers was 295.62 million, up by 1.1% compared to the previous year.

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China GDP Grew 8.1% in 2021; Q4 slowed to 4%

According to the preliminary estimates, China gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 reached 114,367 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 8.1 percent over the previous year at constant prices with an average two-year growth of 5.1 percent.

• Q1 GDP up by 18.3 percent year on year
• Q2 7.9 percent
• Q3 4.9 percent
• Q4 4.0 percent

By industries, the value-added of the primary industry was 8,308.6 billion yuan, up by 7.1 percent over the previous year, that of the secondary industry was 45,090.4 billion yuan, up by 8.2 percent and that of the tertiary industry was 60,968.0 billion yuan, up by 8.2 percent.

The total output of grain in 2021 was 682.85 million tons, an increase of 13.36 million tons, or up by 2.0 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the output of summer grain was 145.96 million tons, up by 2.2 percent, and that of early rice was 28.02 million tons, up by 2.7 percent. The output of autumn grain reached 508.88 million tons, up by 1.9 percent.

The total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 9.6 percent over the previous year, an average two-year growth of 6.1 percent.

• mining was up by 5.3 percent
• manufacturing up by 9.8 percent
• production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water up by 11.4 percent.
• high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing went up by 18.2 percent and 12.9 percent respectively

The production of new energy vehicles, industrial robots, integrated circuits, and microcomputer equipment grew by 145.6 percent, 44.9 percent, 33.3 percent, and 22.3 percent, respectively.

In 2021, the national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 77.5 percent, 3.0 percentage points higher than that of the previous year.

The tertiary industry experienced fast growth in 2021.

The value-added of the information transmission, software and information technology services, accommodation and catering services, and transportation, storage and postal services grew by 17.2 percent, 14.5 percent, and 12.1 percent over the previous year respectively.

In 2021, the Index of Services Production grew by 13.1 percent over that of the previous year with the average two-year growth of 6.0 percent.

In 2021, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 54,454.7 billion yuan, up by 4.9 percent over the previous year with the average two-year growth of 3.9 percent.

Specifically, the investment in infrastructure went up by 0.4 percent, manufacturing up by 13.5 percent, and real estate development up by 4.4 percent.  The private investment was 30,765.9 billion yuan, up by 7.0 percent, accounting for 56.5 percent of the total investment.

The investment in high-tech industries grew by 17.1 percent, 12.2 percentage points faster than the total investment, of which the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 22.2 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

In terms of high-tech manufacturing, the investment in electronics and communication equipment manufacturing and in manufacturing of computers and office devices grew by 25.8 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively.

In terms of high-tech services, the investment in e-commerce services and services for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements grew by 60.3 percent and 16.0 percent, respectively.

The investment in social sector went up by 10.7 percent over the previous year. Specifically, the investment in the health sector and in the education sector went up by 24.5 percent and 11.7 percent respectively.

In 2021, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 39,100.9 billion yuan, an increase of 21.4 percent over the previous year.

Specifically, the total value of exports was 21,734.8 billion yuan, up by 21.2 percent; the total value of imports was 17,366.1 billion yuan, up by 21.5 percent. The trade balance was 4,368.7 billion yuan in surplus.

The imports and exports of general trade grew by 24.7 percent, accounting for 61.6 percent of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 1.6 percentage points over the previous year.

The imports and exports by private enterprises grew by 26.7 percent, accounting for 48.6 percent of the total value of the imports and exports, 2 percentage points higher than that of the previous year.

Find out about China’s economy in 2021:

• China retail sales up 12.5% in 2021; online retail grew 14.1%
• China Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2021
• Statistics: China per capita disposable income
• China’s population

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The IMF predicts that the global economic growth rate will be 5.5% in 2021, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than the estimate in October last year. The IMF also predicts that there will be a severe divergence in the recovery process of various countries.

China’s recovery takes the lead among all the large economies in the world, and it has taken the lead in returning to the predicted growth rate before the epidemic in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In addition, the IMF predicts that the US GDP growth rate in 2021 will be 5.1%, a significant increase of 2 percentage points from the previously expected 3.1%.

Japan also has an increased forecast for growth from IMF. It expects Japan’s economic growth rate in 2021 to be 3.1%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from the previous forecast.

The economic growth forecasts for the United Kingdom and Canada in 2021 have been lowered to 4.5% and 3.6%, respectively, a decrease of 1.4 and 1.6 percentage points.

Read China’s economy in 2020 »

China’s year-on-year GDP for the first quarter went down by 6.8%, up by 3.2% for the second quarter, 4.9% for the third quarter, and 6.5% for the fourth quarter.

By industries, the value-added of the primary industry was 7,775.4 billion yuan, up by 3.0%, that of the secondary industry was 38,425.5 billion yuan, up by 2.6%, and that of the tertiary industry was 55,397.7 billion yuan, up by 2.1%.

Agriculture

The total output of grain in 2020 was 669.49 million tons, up by 0.9% over 2019, or an increase of 5.65 million tons.

Of this total, the output of summer grain was 142.86 million tons, up by 0.9%, and that of early rice was 27.29 million tons, up by 3.9%. The output of autumn grain reached 499.34 million tons, up by 0.7%.

The output of rice was 211.86 million tons, up by 1.1 percent; wheat, 134.25 million tons, up by 0.5 percent; corn, 260.67 million tons, almost the same as that of 2019 with a slight decline; soybean, 19.60 million tons, up by 8.3%.

The total output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry in 2020 was 76.39 million tons, down by 0.1% over 2019. Of this total, the output of beef was 6.72 million tons, up by 0.8 percent; mutton, 4.92 million tons, up by 1.0%; poultry, 23.61 million tons, up by 5.5%; eggs, 34.68 million tons, up by 4.8 percent; milk, 34.40 million tons, up by 7.5%, and pork, 41.13 million tons, down by 3.3%.

At the end of 2020, pigs and breeding sows registered in stock were up by 31.0% and 35.1% respectively over that at the end of 2019.

Industrial Production

The total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 2.8% over 2019.

In terms of ownership, the value-added of the state holding enterprises grew by 2.2%, that of the share-holding enterprises up by 3.0%, that of the enterprises funded by foreign investors and investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 2.4% and that of private enterprises up by 3.7%.

In terms of sectors, the value-added of mining was up by 0.5%, that of manufacturing up by 3.4% and that of production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water up by 2.0%.

The value-added of the high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing went up by 7.1% and 6.6% respectively over 2019, or 4.3 percentage points and 3.8 percentage points higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

Specifically, the production of industrial robots, new energy vehicles, integrated circuits and microcomputer equipment grew by 19.1%, 17.3%, 16.2% and 12.7% year on year respectively.

In the fourth quarter, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 7.1% year on year, 1.3 percentage points higher than that in the third quarter.

In 2020, the national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 74.5%. In the fourth quarter, the national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 78.0%, 1.3 percentage points higher than that in the third quarter.

In the first eleven months, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size were 5,744.5 billion yuan, up by 2.4% year on year, 1.7 percentage points higher than that in the first ten months.

Service Sector

In 2020, the Index of Services Production was the same as that of 2019.

The value-added of the information transmission, software and information technology services and that of financial services grew by 16.9% and 7.0% year on year respectively, 14.8 percentage points and 4.9 percentage points higher than that of the tertiary industry.

The Index of Services Production grew by 7.7% year on year in the fourth quarter, 3.4 percentage points higher than that in the third quarter.

In December, the Index of Services Production grew by 7.7% year on year.

In the first eleven months, business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size grew by 1.6% year on year, of which that of information transmission, software and information technology services and that of scientific research and technology services grew by 13.5% and 9.9% respectively, 11.9 percentage points and 8.3 percentage points higher than that of service enterprises above the designated size.

In December, the Business Activity Index for services was 54.8%, staying above the expansion range.

Specifically, the Business Activity Index for sectors like air transportation, telecommunication, broadcast, television and satellite transmission services, monetary and financial services and capital market services continued to stay within the high expansion range at 60.0% and above.

From the perspective of market expectation, the Business Activity Expectation Index for services was 60.1%, staying within the high expansion range for six months in a row.

China’s total online retail sales grew 10.9% in 2020 »

Investment

In 2020, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 51,890.7 billion yuan, up by 2.9% over that of the previous year.

Specifically, the investment in infrastructure was up by 0.9%, manufacturing down by 2.2% and real estate development up by 7.0%.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 1,760.86 million square meters, up by 2.6%. The total sales of commercial buildings were 17,361.3 billion yuan, up by 8.7%. The growth of investment in the three industries shifted to positive.

Specifically, the investment in the primary industry went up by 19.5 percent; that in the secondary industry up by 0.1 percent; and that in the tertiary industry up by 3.6%.

The private investment was 28,926.4 billion yuan, up by 1.0%. The investment in high-tech industries grew by 10.6%, 7.7 percentage points higher than the total investment, of which the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 11.5% and 9.1% respectively.

In terms of high-tech manufacturing, the investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing and in computers and office devices grew by 28.4% and 22.4% respectively.

In terms of high-tech services, investment in e-commerce services and information services grew by 20.2% and 15.2% respectively.

The investment in the social sector went up by 11.9%, 9.0 percentage points higher than the total investment. Specifically, the investment in the health industry and in the education industry went up by 29.9% and 12.3% respectively.

Foreign Trade

In 2020, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 32,155.7 billion yuan, an increase of 1.9% over the previous year.

The total value of exports was 17,932.6 billion yuan, up by 4.0 percent; the total value of imports was 14,223.1 billion yuan, down by 0.7%. The trade balance was 3,709.6 billion yuan in surplus.

The exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 6%, accounting for 59.4% of the total value of exports, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of 2019.

The imports and exports of general trade accounted for 59.9% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 0.9 percentage point compared with 2019.

The imports and exports by private enterprises grew by 11.1%, accounting for 46.6% of the total value of the imports and exports, 3.9 percentage points higher than that of 2019.

In December, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 3,200.5 billion yuan, up by 5.9% year on year. Specifically, the total value of exports was 1,858.7 billion yuan, up by 10.9 percent; the total value of imports was 1,341.9 billion yuan, down by 0.2%. The trade balance was 516.8 billion yuan in surplus.

China Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Dec 2020; up 2.5% in 2020

Employment

In 2020, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 11.86 million, which exceeded the expected goal of 9 million and achieved 131.8% of the whole year target.

In December, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.2%, the same as that of 2019. Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of major labor force aged from 25 to 59 was 4.7%, the same as the previous year.

In 2020, the average annual surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 5.6%, lower than the expected target of around 6%.

At the end of 2020, the registered unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.24%, lower than the expected target of around 5.5%. The number of rural migrant workers reached 285.60 million, 5.17 million less than that of 2019 or down by 1.8%.

Specifically, local migrant workers totaled 116.01 million, down by 0.4 percent; outside migrant workers totaled 169.59 million, down by 2.7%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 4,072 yuan, up by 2.8% over 2019.

Resident Income

In 2020, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 32,189 yuan, a nominal increase of 4.7% over that of 2019, and a real increase of 2.1% after deducting price factors, which was generally at the same pace as the growth of the economy.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 43,834 yuan, a nominal growth of 3.5% and a real growth of 1.2% after deducting the price factors.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 17,131 yuan, a nominal growth of 6.9% and a real growth of 3.8% after deducting price factors.

The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.56 times that of the rural households, 0.08 less than the ratio of 2019.

The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 27,540 yuan, a nominal increase of 3.8% over that of 2019.

Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintile, that of the low-income group reached 7,869 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 16,443 yuan, the middle-income group 26,249 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 41,172 yuan, and the high-income group 80,294 yuan.

In 2020, the nationwide per capita consumption expenditure was 21,210 yuan, a nominal decline of 1.6%, or a real decline of 4.0% after deducting price factors. Specifically, the per capita consumption expenditure of urban households was 27,007 yuan, a nominal decline of 3.8 percent; the per capita consumption expenditure of rural households was 13,713 yuan, a nominal growth of 2.9%.

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The added value of the tourism industry was 4,075.8 billion yuan, accounting for 90.6 percent of the total added value of tourism and related industries while the related industries contributed to 9.4%.

Within the tourism industry in China, tourism shopping was the largest segment in 2019, with an added value of 1,407.7 billion yuan, accounting for 31.3% of the added value of all tourism and related industries, followed by transportation, with an added value of 1,205.5 billion yuan, accounting for 26.8% of the added value of all tourism and related industries.

In terms of growth rate, tourism entertainment, tourism accommodation, and comprehensive tourism services developed rapidly, with nominal growth of 12.9%, 10.4% and 10.0% respectively compared with the previous year.

According to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 72,278.6 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year growth of 0.7% at comparable prices.

The GDP for the first quarter declined by 6.8% year on year, increased by 3.2% for the second quarter, and up by 4.9% for the third quarter of 2020.

By industry, the value-added of the primary industry was 4,812.3 billion yuan, up by 2.3 percent year on year; that of the secondary industry was 27,426.7 billion yuan, up by 0.9 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 40,039.7 billion yuan, up by 0.4 percent.

The GDP for the third quarter grew by 2.7% quarter on quarter.

Check out China retail sales in Q3 here.

Agricultural Production

In the first three quarters, the value-added of agriculture (crop farming) grew by 3.8% year on year, the same as that of the first half of the year. Specifically, that of the third quarter grew by 3.9%.

The total output of summer grain and early rice totaled 170.10 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 2.24 million tons. The sown area for autumn grain was stable with an increase, major crops for autumn grain grew well and another bumper harvest is expected for autumn grain.

The planting structure was further optimized, with the sown areas of quality rice and soybean continuing to expand. In the first three quarters, the output of milk grew by 8.1%, and that of eggs grew by 5.1%.

The output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry dropped by 4.7%, a decline narrowed by 6.1 percentage points compared with that of the first half of this year.

Specifically, the output of poultry grew by 6.5%, and output of beef, mutton and pork dropped by 1.7%, 1.8% and 10.8% respectively, a decline narrowed by 1.7 percentage points, 0.7 percentage points and 8.3 percentage points compared with that of the first half of this year.

The pork production capacity gradually recovered. By the end of the third quarter, 370.39 million pigs were registered in stock, up by 20.7% year on year, among which, 38.22 million were breeding sows, up by 28.0%.

Check out China’s CPI from January to September 2020.

Industrial Production

In the first three quarters, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 1.2% year on year, while that of the first half of this year was down by 1.3%. Specifically, that of the third quarter grew by 5.8% year on year, 1.4 percentage points faster than that of the second quarter.

In September, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.9% year on year, growing for the sixth consecutive month, or 1.3 percentage points faster than the growth of August, with the month-on-month growth registering 1.18%.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that, in the first three quarters, the value-added of the state holding enterprises grew by 0.9% year on year; that of share-holding enterprises up by 1.5 percent; that of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan up by 0.3 percent; and that of private enterprises up by 2.1%.

In terms of sector, the value-added of mining went down by 0.6% year on year, a decline narrowed by 0.5 percentage points compared with that of the first half of this year; manufacturing up by 1.7% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water up by 0.8%, compared with a decline of 1.4% and 0.9% respectively in the first half of this year.

In the first three quarters, the value-added of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing grew by 5.9% and 4.7% year on year.

In terms of the output of products, in the first three quarters, the production of trucks, excavators, and shoveling machinery, industrial robots, and integrated circuits grew by 23.4%, 20.2%, 18.2% and 14.7% year on year respectively.

In the first eight months, the total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size totaled 3,716.7 billion yuan, down by 4.4% year on year, a decline narrowed by 3.7 percentage points compared with that of the first seven months.

The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 51.5% in September, 0.5 percentage points higher than that of August, staying above the threshold for seven consecutive months.

Service Sector

In the third quarter, the total value added of the tertiary industry grew by 4.3%, or 2.4 percentage points faster than that of the second quarter.

In the first three quarters, of modern service industries, the value-added of the information transmission, software and information technology services, and financial services grew by 15.9% and 7.0% respectively, or 1.4 percentage points and 0.4 percentage points higher than that of the first half of this year.

The Index of Services Production dropped by 2.6% year on year, a decline narrowed by 3.5 percentage points compared with that of the first half of the year; specifically, that of September grew by 5.4%, 1.4 percentage points faster than that of August.

In September, the Business Activity Index for services was 55.2%, 0.9 percentage points higher than that of August. Specifically, the Business Activity Index for transportation, telecommunication, internet and software, and accommodation and catering all stayed above 60%. In terms of market expectation, the Business Activities Expectation Index for service was 62.2%, 0.9 percentage points higher than that August.

Investment in Fixed Assets Shifted from Negative to Positive

In the first three quarters, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 43,653.0 billion yuan, up by 0.8% year on year, shifting from negative to positive for the first time in 2020, while that of the first half of this year was down by 3.1%.

• the investment in infrastructure grew by 0.2%, shifting from negative to positive for the first time in 2020, while that of the first half of 2020 was down by 2.7 percent;
• the investment in manufacturing dropped by 6.5%, a decline narrowed by 5.2 percentage points compared with that of the first half of 2020;
• the investment in real estate development grew by 5.6%, 3.7 percentage points faster than that of the first half of 2020.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 1,170.73 million square meters, down by 1.8%, a decline narrowed by 6.6 percentage points compared with that of the first half of 2020; and the total sales of commercial buildings were 11,564.7 billion yuan, up by 3.7%, while that of the first half of 2020 were down by 5.4%.

The investment in China’s primary industry grew by 14.5%, a growth of 10.7 percentage points higher than that of the first half of the year; the secondary industry down by 3.4%, a decline narrowed by 4.9 percentage points compared with that of the first half of the year; the tertiary industry up by 2.3%, while that of the first half was down by 1.0%.

The private investment reached 24,399.8 billion yuan, down by 1.5%, a decline narrowed by 5.8 percentage points compared with that of the first half of 2020.

The investment in the high-tech industry grew by 9.1%, 2.8 percentage points faster than that of the first half of 2020. Of the total, the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 9.3% and 8.7% respectively.

In terms of high-tech manufacturing, the investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing, manufacturing of computers and office devices grew by 21.2% and 9.3% respectively.

In terms of high-tech services, the investment in e-commerce services, information services and services for commercialization of research findings grew by 20.4%, 16.9% and 16.8%.

The investment in social sectors grew by 9.2%, 3.9 percentage points higher than that of the first half of 2020. Of the total, the investment in health sector and education sector grew by 20.3% and 12.7% respectively, or 5.1 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points faster than that of the first half of 2020.

In September, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 3.37% month on month.

Imports and Exports

In the first three quarters, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 23,115.1 billion yuan, up by 0.7% year on year, shifting from negative to positive for the first time in 2020; specifically, that of the third quarter grew by 7.5% year on year, while the that of the second quarter was down by 0.2%.

The value of exports was 12,710.3 billion yuan, up by 1.8%, and the value of imports was 10,404.8 billion yuan, down by 0.6%. The trade balance was 2,305.4 billion yuan in surplus.

In September, the total value of imports and exports was 3,066.3 billion yuan, up by 10.0% year on year. The value of exports was 1,662.0 billion yuan, up by 8.7 percent; the value of imports was 1,404.3 billion yuan, up by 11.6%.

The trade structure continued to optimize. In the first three quarters, the import and export of general trade accounted for 60.2% of the total value of the imports and exports, 0.8 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

The exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 3.2%, while that of the first half of 2020 was down by 2.3%. The imports and exports by private enterprises grew by 10.2%, accounting for 46.1% of the total imports and exports, 4 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

Employment

In the first three quarters, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 8.89 million, accomplishing 99.8% of the whole-year target.

In September, the urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.4%, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of August. Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of population aged from 25 to 59 was 4.8%, 0.6 percentage points lower than the urban surveyed unemployment rate, the same as that of August.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.5%, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of August.

The employees of enterprises worked averagely 46.8 hours per week. By the end of the third quarter, the number of rural migrant workers reached 179.52 million, 3.84 million less than that of the same period last year, down by 2.1% year on year.

Residents Income

In the first three quarters, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 23,781 yuan, a nominal increase of 3.9% year on year, or a real increase of 0.6% after deducting price factors, shifting from negative to positive for the first time in 2020 as that of the first half of 2020 was down by 1.3%.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 32,821 yuan, a nominal increase of 2.8%, or a real decrease of 0.3%.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 12,297 yuan, a nominal increase of 5.8%, or a real increase of 1.6%.

The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.67 times that of rural households, 0.08 less than that of the same period last year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 20,512 yuan, a nominal increase of 3.2% year on year.

China saw its first positive quarterly growth in consumer retail sales in Q3 2020

China’s GDP reached 45,661.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2020, a year-on-year decline of 1.6% at comparable prices.

The value-added of the primary industry was 2,605.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 0.9 percent; that of the secondary industry was 17,275.9 billion yuan, down by 1.9 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 25,780.2 billion yuan, down by 1.6 percent.

Agricultural Production

In H1 of 2020, the value-added of agriculture (crop farming) grew by 3.8% year on year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that in the first quarter; specifically, the figure grew by 3.9% in the second quarter, 0.4 percentage point higher than the growth in the first quarter.

The overall output of summer grain was 142.81 million tons, an increase of 1.21 million tons over that of the previous year, up by 0.9%. The structure of crop farming was further optimized, as the sown area for cash crops such as rapeseed increased.

In H1, the output of milk grew by 7.9% year on year and that of eggs grew by 7.1%. The output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry fell by 10.8%, the decrease of which narrowed by 8.7 percentage points compared with that of the first quarter.

Specifically, the output of poultry increased by 6.8%, up by 5.7 percentage points; that of mutton, beef and pork dropped by 2.5%, 3.4%, and 19.1% respectively, the decrease of which narrowed by 5.2 percentage points, 3.0 percentage points, and 10.0 percentage points respectively.

The pig production capacity continued to recover. By the end of the second quarter, 339.96 million pigs were registered in stock, an increase of 5.8% over that by the end of the first quarter, among which 36.29 million were breeding sows, up by 5.4% year on year, an increase of 7.3% over that by the end of the first quarter.

Industrial Production and High-tech Manufacturing

In H1, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size declined by 1.3% year on year, 7.1 percentage points slower than the decline of the first quarter; specifically, the figure grew by 4.4% in the second quarter and declined by 8.4% in the first quarter.

In June, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 4.8% year on year, 0.4 percentage point faster than that of May, growing for the third month in a row, or up by 1.3 percent month on month.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value-added of the state holding enterprises went down by 1.5% year on year; that of share-holding enterprises down by 0.8 percent; enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan down by 3.4 percent; and private enterprises down by 0.1%.

In terms of sectors, the value-added of the mining went down by 1.1%, the manufacturing down by 1.4% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water declined by 0.9%, 0.6 percentage point, 8.8 percentage points, and 4.3 percentage points slower than the decline of the first quarter respectively.

The value-added of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing grew by 4.5% and 0.4% respectively In H1; specifically, the figures went up by 10.0% and 9.7% respectively in June.

The output of some engineering machinery and new products witnessed fast growth. In H1, the production of excavators and shoveling machinery, integrated circuits, industrial robots, and trucks grew by 16.7%, 16.4%, 10.3%, and 8.4% year on year respectively.

In the first five months of 2020, the total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size totaled 1,843.5 billion yuan, down by 19.3% year on year, the decline of which continued to narrow.

Specifically, the figure went up by 6.0% year on year in May, while that in April went down by 4.3%. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index stood at 50.9% in June, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of the previous month, staying above the threshold for the fourth consecutive month.

Service Sector

In H1, the total value added of the tertiary industry dropped year on year, 3.6 percentage points less than the decline of the first quarter; specifically, the figure grew by 1.9% in the second quarter and dropped by 5.2% in the first quarter.

By sectors, the value-added of information transmission, software and information technology and that of financial services grew by 14.5% and 6.6% respectively; wholesale and retail trades, accommodation and catering declined by 8.1% and 26.8% respectively, 9.7 percentage points and 8.5 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter.

In H1 of 2020, the Index of Services Production decreased by 6.1% year on year, 5.6 percentage points slower than the decline of the first quarter; specifically, the figure in June grew by 2.3%, 1.3 percentage points higher than that in May.

In the first five months, business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size dropped by 6.4%, the decline of which narrowed by 2.2 percentage points compared with that in the first four months; specifically, that of information transmission, software, and information technology services grew by 8.4%.

In June, the Business Activity Index for services was 53.4%, 1.1 percentage points higher than that in May.

Specifically, the Business Activity Index for railway transportation, road transportation, air transportation, postal services, telecommunication, broadcast, television satellite transmission services, internet, software and information services, monetary and financial services, capital market services, and insurance stood at 55.0% and above.

In terms of market expectations, the Business Activity Expectation Index for services was 59.0%.

Investment

In H1, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 28,160.3 billion yuan, down by 3.1% year on year, the decline of which narrowed by 3.2 percentage points compared with that in the first five months, or 13.0 percentage points compared with that in the first quarter.

Specifically, the investment in infrastructure was down by 2.7% and that in manufacturing down by 11.7%, the decline of which narrowed by 17.0 percentage points and 13.5 percentage points respectively compared with that in the first quarter; real estate development went up by 1.9% and down by 7.7% in the first quarter.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 694.04 million square meters, down by 8.4%, and the total sales of commercial buildings were 6,689.5 billion yuan, down by 5.4%, 17.9 percentage points, and 19.3 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter respectively.

By industries, the investment in the primary industry grew by 3.8% despite a decline of 13.8% in the first quarter; that in the secondary industry went down by 8.3% and that in the tertiary industry down by 1.0%, 13.6 percentage points and 12.5 percentage points less than the decline in the first quarter respectively.

Private investment reached 15,786.7 billion yuan, down by 7.3%, 11.5 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter.

The investment in high-tech industries went up by 6.3%, while that in the first quarter went down by 12.1 percent; specifically, the investment in high-tech manufacturing industries and high-tech services went up by 5.8% and 7.2% respectively.

In terms of high-tech manufacturing, investment in pharmaceutical manufacturing and the manufacturing of computers and office devices grew by 13.6% and 8.2% respectively.

In terms of high-tech services, the investment in services for e-commerce services and commercialization of scientific and technological research findings grew by 32.0% and 21.8% respectively.

The investment in the social sector increased by 5.3%, while that declined by 8.8% in the first quarter.

Specifically, the investment in the health sector and education sector grew by 15.2% and 10.8% respectively, despite a decline of 0.9% and 4.0% in the first quarter. In June, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 5.91% month on month.

Imports and Exports

In H1, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 14,237.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 3.2%, 3.3 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter; specifically, that in the second quarter dropped by 0.2%, and that in the first quarter dropped by 6.5%.

The total value of exports was 7,713.4 billion yuan, down by 3.0 percent; the total value of imports was 6,524.5 billion yuan, down by 3.3%. The trade balance was 1,188.9 billion yuan in surplus.

In H1, the import and export of general trade accounted for 60.1% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with that in the same period last year.

The exports of mechanical and electronic products accounted for 58.6% of the total value of exports, an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

In June, the total value of imports and exports was 2,697.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%. The total value of exports was 1,513.1 billion yuan, up by 4.3%, and the total value of imports was 1,184.2 billion yuan, up by 6.2%.

In H1, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 5,425.0 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 4.9%, 5.4 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter. In June, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size shifted from a year-on-year decline of 1.4% in May to a growth of 2.6%.

Consumer Price

In H1, the consumer price went up by 3.8% year on year, 1.1 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter. Specifically, the price went up by 3.6% in urban areas and up by 4.7% in rural areas.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and alcohol went up by 12.2% year on year; clothing down by 0.1 percent; housing down by 0.1 percent; articles and services for daily use up by 0.1 percent; transportation and communication down by 3.2 percent; education, culture and recreation up by 2.0 percent; medical services and health care up by 2.1 percent; other articles and services up by 5.0%.

In terms of food, tobacco and alcohol prices, prices for grain went up by 1.0%, fresh vegetables up by 3.4 percent; pork up by 104.3%, 18.2 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter. Core CPI excluding the price of food and energy went up by 1.2%. In June, the consumer price went up by 2.5% year on year, and down by 0.1% month on month.

In H1, the producer prices for industrial products went down by 1.9% year on year. The figure in June dropped by 3.0% year on year, or up by 0.4% month on month. In H1, the purchasing prices for industrial producers went down by 2.6% year on year. The figure in June dropped by 4.4% year on year and up by 0.4% month on month.

Unemployment Rate

In H1, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 5.64 million, accounting for 62.7% of the whole-year target.

In June, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.7%, 0.2 percentage point lower than that in May. Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of the population aged from 25 to 59 was 5.2%, 0.5 percentage point lower than that of the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas, or 0.2 percentage point lower than that in May.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.8%, 0.1 percentage point lower than that in the previous month. The employees of enterprises worked averagely 46.8 hours per week. By the end of the second quarter, the number of rural migrant workers reached 177.52 million.

Residents’ Real Income

In H1, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 15,666 yuan, a nominal growth of 2.4% year on year, 1.6 percentage points faster than that in the first quarter, or a real decrease of 1.3% after deducting price factors, a decrease of which narrowed by 2.6 percentage points.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 21,655 yuan, a nominal growth of 1.5%, or a real decrease of 2.0 percent.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 8,069 yuan, a nominal growth of 3.7%, or a real decrease of 1.0%. By sources of income, the nationwide per capita wage income went up by 2.5% in nominal terms, net operating income down by 5.1%, net property income up by 4.2%, and net transfer income up by 8.2%.

The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.68 times that of the rural households, 0.06 less than that of the same period last year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 13,347 yuan, a nominal increase of 0.5% year on year.

Check out retail sales and CPI here.

By industry, the value added of the primary industry was 1,018.6 billion yuan, down by 3.2%; that of the secondary industry was 7,363.8 billion yuan, down by 9.6%; and that of the tertiary industry was 12,268.0 billion yuan, down by 5.2%.

Overall Agricultural Production

In Q1 2020, the value added of agriculture (crop farming) grew by 3.5% year on year.

By the end of March, the sown area of grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ seedling of winter wheat accounted for 87.2% of the total, 3.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

In Q1 2020, the output of eggs grew by 4.3%, and that of milk grew by 4.6 percent. The output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 18.13 million tons. The pig production capacity continued to get recovered.

By the end of Q1 2020, 321.20 million pigs were registered in stock, up by 3.5% over the end of the Q4 2019, among which 33.81 million were breeding sows, up by 9.8%.

Industrial Production Dropped

In Q1 2020, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went down by 8.4% year on year.

Specifically, in March, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went down by 1.1% year on year, or 12.4 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months, while the month-on-month growth was 32.13%, with the industrial output approaching the level of the same period last year.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises dropped by 6.0% year on year; that of share-holding enterprises down by 8.4 percent; that of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan down by 14.5 percent; and that of private enterprises down by 11.3 percent.

In terms of sector:

• the value added of mining went down by 1.7%
• manufacturing down by 10.2%
• the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water down by 5.2 percent.
• The output of natural gas, non-woven fabrics, chemical medicine materials, crude oil, ten kinds of nonferrous metal, ethylene and crude steel went up by 9.1%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 2.4%, 2.1%, 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.
• The output of automatic vending and ticket machines, electronic components, integrated circuits, urban rail vehicles, and solar cells went up by 35.3%, 16.2%, 16.0%, 13.1% and 3.4% respectively.

In March, the high-tech manufacturing went up by 8.9% year on year, among which, the manufacturing of computers, communication equipment, and other electronic equipment went up by 9.9 percent.

The output of industrial robots and power generation equipment went up by 12.9% and 20.0% respectively.

Service Production Dropped

In Q1 2020, the total value added of the tertiary industry dropped year on year, while that of the information transmission, software and information technology services and that of financial intermediation went up by 13.2% and 6.0% respectively.

In March, the Index of Services Production dropped by 9.1%, 3.9 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.

In the first two months, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size dropped by 12.2%, among which, that of internet and related services and that of software and information technology services went up by 10.1% and 0.7% respectively.

In March, the Business Activity Index for services was 51.8%, 21.7 percentage points higher than last month.

Specifically, the Business Activity Index for transportation, storage and post, retail trades and monetary and financial services was relatively high, reaching 59.3%, 60.6% and 62.9% respectively.

In terms of market expectation, the Business Activities Expectation Index for service was 56.8%, 17.1 percentage points higher than last month, showing greater confidence of enterprises for market development.

Investment Growth Slowed

In Q1 2020, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 8,414.5 billion yuan, down by 16.1% year on year, 8.4 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.

Specifically, the investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, and real estate development declined by 19.7%, 25.2%, and 7.7% respectively, 10.6 percentage points, 6.3 percentage points and 8.6 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 219.78 million square meters, down by 26.3 percent; and the total sales of commercial buildings were 2,036.5 billion yuan, down by 24.7%, the decline of which was narrowed by 13.6 percentage points and 11.2 percentage points compared to that of the first two months respectively.

By industry, the investment in the primary industry went down by 13.8 percent; the secondary industry down by 21.9 percent; the tertiary industry down by 13.5 percent; and the private investment reached 4,780.4 billion yuan, down by 18.8 percent.

The decline was narrowed by 11.8 percentage points, 6.3 percentage points, 9.5 percentage points and 7.6 percentage points respectively compared to that of the first two months.

The investment in the high-tech industry declined by 12.1%, 4.0 percentage points lower than that of the total investment.

Of the total, the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services went down by 13.5% and 9.0% respectively. In terms of high-tech manufacturing, the investment in manufacturing of computer and office equipment grew by 3.2 percent.

In terms of high-tech services, the investment in e-commerce services went up by 39.6%, that in professional technical services up by 36.7%, and that in services for commercialization of research findings up by 17.4%.

The investment in social sectors went down by 8.8%, among which, the investment in health sector dropped by 0.9%, or 15.2 percentage points lower than the decline of the total investment.

Investment in the manufacturing of biological medicines and products and other anti-epidemic related industries maintained growth, and construction of key projects for epidemic prevention accelerated.

In March 2020, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 6.05% month on month.

Imports and Exports of Goods Slowed Down

In Q1 2020, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 6,574.2 billion yuan, down by 6.4% year on year.

In March, the total value of imports and exports was 2,445.9 billion yuan, down by 0.8% year on year, a decline slowed by 8.7 percentage points compared to that of the first two months.

Of the total, the value of exports was 1,292.7 billion yuan, down by 3.5 percent; the value of imports was 1,153.2 billion yuan, up by 2.4%, with import of general trade growing by 4.0 percent.

In Q1 2020, the total value of exports was 3,336.3 billion yuan, down by 11.45%; the total value of imports was 3,238.0 billion yuan, down by 0.75%.

The trade balance was 98.3 billion yuan in surplus. The import and export of general trade accounted for 60.0% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

In Q1 2020, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2,408.2 billion yuan, down by 10.3% year on year, 8.8 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.

In March, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 1,030.7 billion yuan, up by 3.1 percent.

Growth of Consumer Price Declined

In Q1 2020, China CPI went up by 4.9% year on year. Check out details here.

In Q1 2020, the producer prices for industrial products went down by 0.6% year on year.

Specifically, the prices in March dropped by 1.5% year on year, 1.1 percentage points faster than the year-on-year decline in the first two months, or down by 1.0% month on month.

In Q1 2020, the purchasing prices for industrial producers went down by 0.8% year on year; specifically in March, the prices dropped by 1.6% year on year, or down by 1.1% month on month.

Surveyed Unemployment Rate in Urban Areas Dropped

In Q1 2020, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 2.29 million according to NBS.

In March, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9%, 0.3 percentage points lower than that of February.

Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of population aged from 25 to 59 was 5.4%, 0.5 percentage points lower than the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of last month.

The urban unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.7%, the same as the previous month. In March, the employees of enterprises worked averagely 44.8 hours per week, 4.6 hours more than last month. By the end of February, the number of rural migrant workers reached 122.51 million.

China per capita income down 3.9% in Q1 2020; and, retail sales down 19%.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 45,093.3 billion yuan (US$6,565.68 billion) in the first half of 2019, a year-on-year increase of 6.3% at comparable prices according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China. The year-on-year GDP growth for the first quarter was 6.4 percent, and 6.2% for the second quarter.

The value-added of the primary industry was 2,320.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 3.0%; the secondary industry was 17,998.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 5.8%; and the tertiary industry was 24,774.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 7.0%.

Agricultural Production

In the first half of 2019, the value-added of crop farming grew by 3.9% year on year, 0.5 percentage point slower than the first quarter. The overall output of summer grain was 141.74 million tons, an increase of 2.93 million tons over last year, up by 2.1 percent, hitting the highest record as that of 2017.

The structure of crop farming was further optimized, as planting area for cotton and soybean increased. In the first half, the output of eggs grew by 3.6% year on year, and that of milk grew by 1.7%. The output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 39.11 million tons, down by 2.1 percent, among which, the output of beef, mutton and poultry grew by 2.4 percent, 1.5% and 5.6% year on year respectively, while the output of pork went down by 5.5%.

Industrial Production

In the first half, the year-on-year growth rate of total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.0 percent, 0.5 percentage point slower than the first quarter.

In June, the year-on-year growth rate of total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.3 percent, 1.3 percentage points faster than that of May, up by 0.68% month on month.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value-added of the state holding enterprises went up by 5.0% year on year; that of share-holding enterprises up by 7.3%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 1.4%.

In terms of sectors, the value-added of the mining grew by 3.5% year on year, the manufacturing grew by 6.4% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water grew by 7.3%. The value-added of strategic emerging industries grew by 7.7 percent, 1.7 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

The value-added of high-tech manufacturing grew by 9.0 percent, 3.0 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, accounting for 13.8% of the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, 0.8 percentage point higher than that of the same period last year.

The output of new energy vehicles and solar cells grew by 34.6% and 20.1% year on year.

In the first five months of 2019, the total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size was 2,379.0 billion yuan, down by 2.3% year on year, 1.1 percentage points less than that of the first four months. The profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size in May grew by 1.1 percent, while that for April was down by 3.7% year on year.

The profit rate of the business revenue of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 5.72 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the first four months in 2019.

Service Sector Grew Fast

In the first half, the service sector maintained good momentum. The value-added of information transmission, software, and information technology services, that of leasing and business services, that of transport, storage and postal services, and that of financial intermediation grew by 20.6 percent, 7.8 percent, 7.3% and 7.3% year on year respectively, or 13.6 percentage points, 0.8 percentage point, 0.3 percentage point and 0.3 percentage point faster than that of the tertiary industry.

In the first half of 2019, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage point lower than that of the first quarter; specifically, that for June grew by 7.1 percent, 0.1 percentage point faster than that of May.

In June, the Business Activity Index for services was 53.4 percent, continuing to stay above the 50-point mark separating growth from contraction. The Business Activities Expectation Index for services was 60.3 percent, staying at a high level.

In the first five months, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 10.1% year on year, 0.3 percentage point faster than that of the first four months; specifically, the business revenue of strategic emerging services, high-tech services and technology services demonstrated fast growth, which increased by 12.5 percent, 12.3% and 12.0% respectively, or 2.4 percentage points, 2.2 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points faster than the growth of the service enterprises above the designated size.

Market Sales Demonstrated a Stable and Rising Trend with Higher Growth Rate and Share for Online Retail Sales

Investment Witnessed Steady Growth and the Investment in High-tech Industries Grew Fast

In the first half, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 29,910.0 billion yuan, up by 5.8% year on year, 0.2 percentage point faster than that of the first five months, or 0.5 percentage point slower than that of the first quarter.

Specifically, the private investment reached 18,028.9 billion yuan, up by 5.7%. The investment in the primary industry went down by 0.6%; the secondary industry went up by 2.9 percent, among which, that in manufacturing went up by 3.0%; the tertiary industry went up by 7.4 percent, among which, that in infrastructure was up by 4.1%.

The investment in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 10.4 percent, 4.6 percentage points faster than the total investment; the investment in high-tech services went up by 13.5 percent, 7.7 percentage points faster than the total investment. In June, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 0.44% month on month.

In the first half, the total investment in real estate development was 6,160.9 billion yuan, up by 10.9 percent, or 0.9 percentage point slower than that of the first quarter. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 757.86 million square meters, down by 1.8% year-on-year. The total sales of commercial buildings were 7,069.8 billion yuan, up by 5.6 percent, maintaining the same speed as that of the first quarter.

Imports and Exports Showed Slight Growth

In the first half, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 14,667.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent, 0.2 percentage point faster than the first quarter.

The total value of exports was 7,952.1 billion yuan, up by 6.1%; the total value of imports was 6,715.5 billion yuan, up by 1.4%. The trade balance was 1,236.6 billion yuan in surplus, up by 41.6% year on year.

The import and export of general trade increased by 5.5 percent, accounting for 59.9% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 0.9 percentage point compared with the same period last year.

The exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 5.3 percent, accounting for 58.2% of the total value of exports. The total value of imports and exports by private enterprises increased by 11.0 percent, accounting for 41.7% of the total value, 2.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In June, the total value of imports and exports was 2,561.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. The total value of exports was 1,453.5 billion yuan, up by 6.1 percent, and the total value of imports was 1,108.3 billion yuan, down by 0.4%.

In the first half, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 5,836.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%. In June, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 1,055.5 billion yuan, up by 1.9 percent, 1.2 percentage points faster than that of May.

Consumer Price

In the first half, the consumer price went up by 2.2% year on year, 0.4 percentage point faster than the first quarter.

Specifically, the price went up by 2.2% both in the urban and rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and alcohol went up by 3.9% year on year; clothing up by 1.8%; housing up by 2.0%; articles and services for daily use up by 1.1%; transportation and communication down by 1.0%; education, culture and recreation up by 2.5%; medical services and health care up by 2.6%; other articles and services up by 2.2%.

In terms of food, tobacco and alcohol prices, prices for grain went up by 0.5 percent, pork up by 7.7 percent, fresh vegetables up by 9.2%. Core CPI excluding the price of food and energy went up by 1.8% year on year, 0.1 percentage point lower than that of the first quarter.

In June, the consumer price went up by 2.7% year on year, increasing at the same speed as last month, and down by 0.1% month on month.

In the first half of 2019, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 0.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the first quarter. In June, the producer prices for industrial products were unchanged compared with the same period last year, down by 0.3 percentage month on month.

In the first half, the purchasing prices for industrial producers went up by 0.1% year on year, increasing at the same speed as the first quarter. In June, the prices dropped by 0.3% year on year and down by 0.1% month on month.

Employment

In the first half, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 7.37 million, accounting for 67% of the whole-year target. In June, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.1 percent, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month.

Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of the population aged from 25 to 59 was 4.6 percent, 0.5 percentage point lower than that of the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas. The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.0 percent, the same as the previous month.

In June, the employees of enterprises worked averagely 45.7 hours per week. At the end of the second quarter, the number of rural migrant workers reached 182.48 million, an increase of 2.26 million over the same period last year, up by 1.3 percent, and 0.1 percentage point faster than the first quarter.

Residents Income Grew Faster than Economic Growth and Urban-Rural Income Ratio Continued to Narrow Down.

In the first half, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 15,294 yuan, a nominal growth of 8.8% year on year, 0.1 percentage point faster than that of the first quarter; the real increase was 6.5% after deducting price factors, 0.2 percentage point higher than the economic growth.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 21,342 yuan, real growth of 5.7%. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 7,778 yuan, real growth of 6.6%.

The per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.74 times of the rural households, 0.03 less than that of the same period last year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 13,281 yuan, a nominal increase of 9.0% year-on-year.

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The rate was slightly ahead of the median forecast of a gain of 6.3% for the period by economists polled by Bloomberg. HSBC expected the full-year growth to hit 6.6%, which is more optimistic than the growth target of between 6% to 6.5% set by the Chinese government in March, partly due to the Sino-US trade war and high debt levels.

Specifically, the growth kept pace with last quarter’s, 0.4 percentage point lower than that of Q1 2018, and 0.2 percentage point lower than that of 2018.

The value-added of the primary industry was 876.9 billion yuan (US$130.66bn), up by 2.7% year-on-year; that of the secondary industry was 8,234.6 billion yuan (US$1,226.98bn), up by 6.1%; and that of the tertiary industry was 12,231.7 billion yuan (US$1,822.56bn), up by 7.0%.

The value-added of high-tech industries grew by 7.8% year-on-year, which accounted for 13.5% of that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size. Investment in high-tech services went up by 19.3% year-on-year. The value-added of the tertiary industry accounted for 57.3% of total GDP. Final consumption expenditure contributed 65.1% to GDP growth.

Total imports and exports grew by 3.7% to US$1,043.78bn. The trade balance was 529.7 billion yuan in surplus, up by 75.2% year-on-year. Per capita disposable income of urban households was 2.53 times that of rural households.

Pork output down 5.2%

The value-added of agriculture (crop farming) grew by 4.4% year-on-year in Q1. Eggs and milk output grew by 2.3% and 2.0%, respectively.

The total output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 22.52 million tons, down by 2.8% year-on-year. Specifically, the output decreased by 5.2% for pork (14.63 million tons) and increased by 1.7%, 1.4%, and 2.1% for beef, mutton, and poultry, respectively.

In March, the planting area intended for soybean increased by 16.4% year-on-year, and that for quality middle-season rice and single-cropping late rice grew by 1.9%.

High-tech industries represented 13.5% of total value-added of industrial enterprises

Total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.5% year-on-year in Q1 2019.

• Sorted by types of ownership, the value-added was up 4.5% for state holding enterprises, 7.8% for share-holding enterprises, and 1.4% for enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.
• In terms of sectors, the value-added was up 2.2% for mining, 7.2% for manufacturing, and 7.1% for the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water.
• The value added of high-tech industries grew by 7.8% year-on-year, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, accounting for 13.5% of that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, 0.8 percentage point higher than the prior year period.
• The value-added of strategic emerging industries grew by 6.7% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

In Q1, the output of devices for mobile communication base stations, urban rail vehicles, new energy automobiles, and solar cells increased by 153.7%, 54.1%, 48.2%, and 18.2%, respectively.

In March, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 8.5% year-on-year, 3.2 percentage points higher than that of the first two months, or up by 1.0% month-on-month.

In the first two months, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 708.0 billion yuan (US$105.49bn), down by 14.0% year-on-year. The profit rate of the business revenue of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 4.79%.

Value-added of information transmission, software and information technology services up 21.2%

For the tertiary industry, the value-added grew by 8.3% for leasing and business services, 7% for financial intermediation, 6% for lodging and catering services, 5.8% for wholesale and retail trade, and 21.2% for information transmission, software and information technology services.

The Index of Services Production increased by 7.4% year-on-year. The business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 10.9% year-on-year, 0.5 percentage point lower than that of last year.

Investment in fixed assets up 6.3%

The investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 10,187.1 billion yuan (US$1,517.91bn) in Q1, up 6.3% year-on-year.

• Private investment was 6,149.2 billion yuan, up 6.4%.
• Investment grew by 3% in the primary industry, 4.2% in the secondary industry, and 7.5% in the tertiary industry.
• Investment in high-tech manufacturing went up by 11.4% year-on-year, 5.1 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.
• Investment in high-tech services went up by 19.3% year-on-year, 13.0 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.

The total investment in real estate development was 2,380.3 billion yuan (US$354.67bn), up 11.8% year-on-year. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 298.29 million square meters, down by 0.9% year-on-year. The total sales of commercial buildings were 2,703.9 billion yuan (US$402.89bn), up by 5.6%.

Total imports and exports up 3.7% to US$1,043.78bn

The total value of imports and exports was 7,005.1 billion yuan (US$1,043.78bn), up by 3.7% year-on-year. The total value of exports was 3,767.4 billion yuan, up by 6.7%; the total value of imports was 3,237.7 billion yuan, up by 0.3%. The trade balance was 529.7 billion yuan in surplus, up by 75.2% year-on-year.

The value of general trade grew by 6.0%, accounting for 59.6% of the total value of imports and exports. The export of electrical and mechanical products increased by 5.4%, representing 58.8% of the total value of exports. 40.6% of the total value of imports and exports were by private enterprises, up by 9.9%.

In March, the total value of imports and exports was 2,462.6 billion yuan (US$366.94bn), up by 9.6% year-on-year. Specifically, the total value of exports was 1,341.9 billion yuan, up by 21.3%; the total value of imports was 1,120.7 billion yuan, down by 1.8%.

In Q1, the export delivery value of the industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2,766.3 billion yuan (US$412.19bn) in Q1, up by 4.8% year-on-year. In March, the export delivery value of the industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 1,029.2 billion yuan (US$153.35bn), up by 5.7%.

Unemployment in 31 major cities was 5.1%

In Q1, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 3.24 million. At the end of March, the number of rural migrant workers reached 176.51 million, 2.10 million more than that of the prior year period.

In March, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.2%. Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of the population aged from 25 to 59 was 4.8%. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.1%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of last month.

The employees of enterprises worked an average of 46.0 hours per week, increased by 1.1 hours over that in February.

Value-added of the tertiary industry accounted for 57.3% of total GDP

The national industrial capacity utilization rate in Q1 reached 75.9%, the second highest since 2013 compared with the same period in the past. At the end of March, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 516.46 million square meters, 6.05 million square meters less than that at the end of February, down by 9.9% year-on-year. At the end of February, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.9%, down by 0.2 percentage point year-on-year.

In Q1, the investment in ecological protection and treatment of environmental pollution and that in railway transport went up by 43.0% and 11.0%, respectively, 36.7 percentage points and 4.7 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.

At the end of February, the balance of local governments debt stood at 19,142.0 billion yuan (US$2,852.22bn), which was within the limit approved by the National People’s Congress.

According to preliminary estimation, the share of consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and wind power in total energy consumption in Q1 was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the prior year period. The energy consumption per unit GDP went down by 2.7% year-on-year.

In Q1 2019, the value-added of the tertiary industry accounted for 57.3% of total GDP, 0.6 percentage point higher than that of the prior year period, 18.7 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. It contributed 61.3% to GDP growth, 24.4 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry.

Consumption continued to perform as the dominant driving force from the demand side with final consumption expenditure contributing 65.1% to GDP growth.

Service consumption took up 47.7% of households final consumption expenditure, 1.4 percentage points higher than that of the prior year period.

Check out China per capita income, consumption expenditure, and CPI in Q1 2019.

In the whole year of 2018, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China totaled 90,030.9 billion yuan (US$13,280.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 6.6% at comparable prices, according to the preliminary estimates of the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The total value of imports and exports was US$4,499.94 billion, up by 9.7% over that of last year, setting a new record by topping US$4T for the first time.

The consumer price went up by 2.1% over last year, lower than the projected annual target of around 3%. The total number of employed persons was 775.86 million, 1,788.47 of which were urban employed persons. The growth of income and expenditure of rural residents outpaced that of urban residents. The total population of mainland China was 1,395.38 million with a sex ratio of 104.64.

Specifically, the year-on-year growth was 6.8% for Q1, 6.7% for Q2  6.5% for Q3, and 6.4% for Q4. The value added of the primary industry was 6,473.4 billion yuan (US$954.92 billion), up by 3.5% year-on-year; that of the secondary industry was 36,600.1 billion yuan (US$5,399.06 billion), up by 5.8%; and that of the tertiary industry was 46,957.5 billion yuan (US$6,926.93), up by 7.6%.

1. Grain output maintained above 650 million tons for 4 consecutive years

In 2018, the output of grain crops was 657.89 million tons, 0.6% lesser over that of last year. However, it was still a harvest year on record, maintaining above 650.00 million tons for four consecutive years. Of the total, the output was 138.78 million tons for summer grain, 28.59 million tons for new rice, and 490.52 million tons for autumn grain.

The output of cotton was 6.10 million tons, up by 7.8% year-on-year. The sown area of quality rice, soybean, cotton, sugar crop, and Chinese herbal medicine plants all further increased while the cultivated area of corn continued to reduce.

The total output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 85.17 million tons, a slight decrease of 0.3% year-on-year. Specifically, the production of pork was 54.04 million tons, down by 0.9%; beef 6.44 million tons, up by 1.5%; mutton 4.75 million tons, up by 0.8%; poultry 19.94 million tons, up by 0.6%.

There were 428.17 million pigs registered, a year-on-year decrease of 3.0%, and 693.82 million pigs slaughtered, a decrease of 1.2%.

2. New industries

In 2018, the real growth of the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size in 2018 was 6.2%.

Sorted by types of ownership, the added value grew by 6.2% for the state holding enterprises, 6.6% for share-holding enterprises, and 4.8% for enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, respectively while the value added of the collective enterprises decreased by 1.2%.

Regarding sectors, the added value increased by 2.3% for mining, 6.5% for manufacturing, and 9.9% for the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water.

The value added of the high-tech manufacturing, the strategic emerging industry, and equipment construction increased by 11.7%, 8.9%, and 8.1% year-on-year, respectively, 5.5 percentage points, 2.7 percentage points, and 1.9 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

The output of new emerging industrial products rose fast. The growth of passenger trains, microwave terminals, new energy automobiles, biologically-based artificial fibers, smart TV sets, lithium-ion batteries, and integrated circuits grew by 183.0%, 104.5%, 40.1%, 23.5%, 18.7%, 12.9%, and 9.7%, respectively.

In December, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went up by 5.7% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of last month, or up by 0.54% month-on-month.

From January to November, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 6,116.9 billion yuan (US$902.33 billion), an increase of 11.8% year-on-year. The profit rate of the principal activities of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.48%, 0.16 percentage point higher than that of the prior year period.

3. Index of Services Production increased by 7.7 % year-on-year

In 2018, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.7 % over that of last year. Specifically, that of information transmission, software, & information technology services and rental & business services grew by 37.0% and 10.1%, respectively.

In December, the Index of Services Production was up by 7.3% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of last month.

From January to November, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 11.5% year-on-year. Specifically, the business revenue of strategic emerging services, science and technology services and high-tech services grew by 14.9%, 15.0%, and 13.4% year-on-year, respectively. The operating profits of service enterprises above the designated size increased by 5.7%.

In December, the Business Activity Index for services was 52.3%. Specifically, the Business Activity Index for sectors like railway transportation, telecommunication, broadcast, television, & satellite transmission services, commercial financial services, insurance, and other financial services stayed within the expansion range of 60.0% and above.

From the perspective of market expectation, the Business Activities Expectation Index for services was 60.2%, 0.6 percentage point higher than that of last month.

4. Online retail sales increased by 23.9% year-on-year

In 2018, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 38,098.7 billion yuan (US$5,620.13 billion), up by 9.0% year-on-year. Specifically, the retail sales of consumer goods by enterprises above the designated size was 14,531.1 billion yuan (US$2,143.55 billion), up by 5.7%.

In December, the growth of total retail sales of consumer goods was 8.2% year-on-year, or 0.55 percent month-on-month.

In 2018, online retail sales reached 9,006.5 billion yuan (US$1,328.59 billion), an increase of 23.9% compared with that of last year. Check out China’s retail market 2018 here.

5. Investment in manufacturing and private investment accelerated

In 2018, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 63,563.6 billion yuan (US$9,376.58 billion), an increase of 5.9% year-on-year and 0.5 percentage point higher than that of the first three quarters.

Specifically, private investment reached 39,405.1 billion yuan (US$5,812.84 billion), up by 8.7%, 2.7 percentage points higher than that of last year. The investment grew by 12.9% in the primary industry, 1.1 percentage points higher than that of last year; 6.2% in the secondary industry, 3.0 percentage points higher, among which the investment in manufacturing grew by 9.5%, 4.7 percentage points higher; and 5.5% in the tertiary industry, among which the investment in infrastructure increased by 3.8%.

The investment in the high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing went up by 16.1% and 11.1%, respectively, 6.6 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points higher than that of the investment in manufacturing.

In December, the investment in fixed assets grew by 0.42% month-on-month. The total investment in real estate development in 2018 was 12,026.4 billion yuan (US$1,774.07 billion), up by 9.5% over that of last year. The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 1,716.54 million square meters, up by 1.3%.

Specifically, the floor space of residential buildings sold was up by 2.2%. The total sales of commercial buildings were 14,997.3 billion yuan (US$2,212.33 billion), up by 12.2%, among which the sales of residential buildings were up by 14.7%.

6. The total value of imports and exports reached US$4T for the first time

The total value of imports and exports in 2018 was 30,505.0 billion yuan (US$4,499.94 billion), up by 9.7% over that of last year, setting a new record by topping 30 trillion yuan for the first time.

Of the total, the value of exports was 16,417.7 billion yuan (US$2,421.86 billion), up by 7.1%; the amount of imports was 14,087.4 billion yuan (US$2,078.10 billion), up by 12.9%. The trade balance was 2,330.3 billion yuan (US$343.75 billion) in surplus, down by 18.3% over that of last year.

The value of general trade accounted for 57.8% of the total amount of imports and exports, 1.4 percentage points higher than that of last year.

The export of electrical and mechanical products increased by 7.9%, accounting for 58.8% of the total value of exports, 0.4 percentage point higher than that of last year.

The imports and exports with the European Union, the United States, and ASEAN went up by 7.9%, 5.7%, and 11.2%, respectively. The imports and exports with the countries along the Belt and Road grew by 13.3%, 3.6 percentage points higher than the total imports and exports of goods of the year.

The export delivery value of the industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 12,393.2 billion yuan (US$1,828.18 billion), up by 8.5% over that of last year.

7. Consumer price rose 2.1% while producer prices for industrial goods were 2.8 percentage points lower

In 2018, the consumer price went up by 2.1% over last year, lower than the projected annual target of around 3%. Specifically, the price went up by 2.1% in both urban areas and rural areas.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices went up 1.9% for food, tobacco, and liquor; 1.2% for clothing; 2.4% for residence; 1.6% for household facilities, articles, and services; 1.7% for transportation and communications; 2.2% for education, culture, and recreation; 4.3% for health care and medical services; and 1.2% for miscellaneous goods and services.

Regarding food, tobacco and liquor prices, prices went up by 0.8% and 7.1% for grain and fresh vegetables, respectively, and declined by 8.1% for pork.

Core CPI excluding the price of food and energy went up by 1.9%, 0.3 percentage point lower than that of last year.

In December, the consumer price went up by 1.9% year-on-year and remained unchanged month-on-month.

In 2018, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 3.5% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points lower than that of last year; in December, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 0.9% year-on-year, or down by 1.0% month-on-month.

In 2018, the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 4.1% over that of last year; and in December, it was up by 1.6% year-on-year or down by 0.9% month-on-month.

8. Total number of employed persons was 775.86 million

In 2018, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 13.61 million, an increase of 100 thousand over that of last year, staying above 13 million for six years in a row, accomplishing 123.7% of the annual target.

In December, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.9%, 0.1 percentage point lower than that of the same month last year.

In 2018, the monthly urban surveyed unemployment rate stayed within the range of 4.8% to 5.1%, hitting the projected target of lower than 5.5%.

In December, the urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.7%, 0.2 percentage point lower than that of the same month last year. Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of the major labor force aged from 25 to 59 was 4.4%, the same as that of the previous month.

At the end of 2018, the total number of employed persons was 775.86 million, 1,788.47 of which were urban employed persons. The number of rural migrant workers reached 288.36 million, 1.84 million more than that of last year, up by 0.6%. Specifically, local migrant workers totaled 115.70 million, up by 0.9%; outside migrant workers totaled 172.66 million, up by 0.5%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,721 yuan (US$548.90), a year-on-year growth of 6.8%.

9. The growth of income and expenditure of rural residents outpaced that of urban residents.

In 2018, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 28,228 yuan (US$4,164.05), a nominal growth of 8.7% over that of last year, or a real increase of 6.5% after deducting price factors, higher than the growth rate of per capita GDP, and basically kept pace with economic growth.

Regarding permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 39,251 yuan (US$5,790.11), nominal growth of 7.8% over that of last year, or a real growth of 5.6% after deducting price factors.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 14,617 yuan (US$2,156.23), nominal growth of 8.8% year-on-year, or a real growth of 6.6% after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.69 times that of the rural households, 0.02 less than last year.

The median of the national per capita disposable income was 24,336 yuan (US$3,589.92), a nominal increase of 8.6%. Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, that of the low-income group reached 6,440 yuan (US$949.99), the lower-middle-income group 14,361 yuan (US$2,118.46), the middle-income group 23,189 yuan (US$3,420.72), the upper-middle-income group 36,471 yuan (US$5,380.02), and the high-income group 70,640 yuan (US$10,420.5).

In 2018, the national per capita consumption expenditure of residents was 19,853 yuan (US$2,928.61), a nominal increase of 8.4%, 1.3 percentage points higher than that of last year, or a real growth of 6.2% after deducting price factors, 0.8 percentage point higher than that of the previous year.

Specifically, the per capita consumption expenditure of urban households was 26,112 yuan (US$3,851.91), nominal growth of 6.8%, 0.9 percentage point higher than that of last year. The per capita consumption expenditure of rural households was 12,124 yuan (US$1,788.47), nominal growth of 10.7%, and 2.6 percentage points higher than that of last year.

10. Consumption expenditure contributed 76.2% to GDP growth

As for cutting overcapacity, the annual tasks of cutting overcapacity in the industries of steel and coal were completed ahead of schedule. The national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 76.5%. Specifically, the capacity utilization rates of smelting and pressing of ferrous metals and the mining and washing of coal were 78.0% and 70.6%, respectively, 2.2 percentage points and 2.4 percentage points higher than that of last year.

As for deleveraging, the asset-liability ratio of enterprises declined. At the end of November, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.8%, 0.4 percentage point lower than that of the same period last year, among which the asset-liability ratio of state holding enterprises was 59.1%, 1.6 percentage points lower.

Regarding reducing inventory, by the end of 2018, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 524.14 million square meters, down by 11.0% over that at the end of 2017.

Regarding lowering costs, the cost of enterprises continued to drop. For the first eleven months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal activities of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 84.19 yuan, 0.21 yuan less compared with that of the prior year period.

As for strengthening the weak areas, investment in weak areas grew rapidly. In 2018, the investment in environmental protection and treatment of environmental pollution and agriculture went up by 43.0% and 15.4%, respectively, or 37.1 percentage points and 9.5 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.

The economic structure continued to optimize. In 2018, the contribution of the value added of the tertiary industry to total GDP was 52.2%, 0.3 percentage point higher than that of last year, 11.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry, contributing 59.7 % to GDP growth, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of the previous year.

Consumption as the primary driving force for economic growth was further strengthened with final consumption expenditure contributing 76.2% to GDP growth, 18.6 percentage points higher than that of last year, and 43.8 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation.

Household consumption was upgraded and improved with quality. The Engel’s Coefficient was 28.4%, 0.9 percentage point lower than that of last year.

In 2018, service consumption took up 44.2% of national per capita consumption expenditure of residents, 1.6 percentage points higher than that of 2017.

Green development was promoted steadily. The energy consumption per 10,000 yuan worth of GDP went down by 3.1% over last year, achieving the target of dropping by 3%.

The energy consumption structure continued to optimize. The share of consumption of clean energy such as natural gas, hydropower, nuclear power, and wind power in total energy consumption was 1.3 percentage points higher than that of last year.

China’s population growth and birth rate reached a shocking low in 2018

The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 65,089.9 billion yuan (US$9,368.51 bn) in the first three quarters of 2018, a year-on-year increase of 6.7% at comparable prices, according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Specifically, the year-on-year growth was 6.8% for Q1 2018, 6.7% for Q2 2018, and 6.5% for Q3 2018. The value added of the primary industry was 4,217.3 billion yuan (US$607 bn), up by 3.4% year-on-year; the secondary industry 26,295.3 billion yuan (US$3,784.73 bn), up by 5.8%; and the tertiary industry 34,577.3 billion yuan (US$4,976.78 bn), up by 7.7%.

Agricultural Production was Sound

The output of summer crops was 138.72 million tons, a decrease of 3.06 million tons or 2.2% less over last year, and that of the early rice was 28.59 million tons, a decrease of 1.28 million tons or 4.3% less over last year.

In the first three quarters, the output of pork, beef, and mutton was 60.07 million tons, up by 0.2% year-on-year, among them, the output of pork was 38.43 million tons, up by 0.3%. There were 428.87 million pigs registered, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%; and 495.79 million pigs were slaughtered, a year-on-year increase of 0.1%.

The Industrial Production was Generally Stable

In the first three quarters of 2018, the real growth of the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was 6.4% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point slower than H1 2018.

From the perspective of ownership types, the value added of the state holding enterprises went up by 7.0% year-on-year; collective enterprises down by 1.4%; share-holding enterprises up by 6.6%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 5.7%.

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining increased by 1.8% on a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing grew by 6.7%, and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water grew by 10.3%.

In September, the value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size grew by 5.8% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.8% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point slower than H1 2018. Specifically, information transmission, software, and information technology services grew by 37.5% year-on-year; leasing and business services grew by 10.8% year-on-year.

In September, the Index of Services Production increased by 7.3% year-on-year.

In the first eight months, the total profits registered by industrial enterprises above the designated size were 4,424.9 billion yuan (US$636.88 bn), up by 16.2% year-on-year. The profit rate from the principal businesses of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.43%, 0.35 percentage point higher than that of the same period last year.

From January to August, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size grew by 12.0% year-on-year, and the profits for service enterprises above the designated size grew by 15.5% year-on-year.

Growth of Residents’ Consumption was Accelerated

In the first three quarters, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 27,429.9 billion yuan (US$3,948.04 bn), a year-on-year rise of 9.3%, 0.1 percentage point slower than H1 2018. In terms of areas, the retail sales in urban areas reached 23,471.7 billion yuan (US$3,378.33 bn), up by 9.1%, and the retail sales in rural areas were 3,958.2 billion yuan (US$569.71 bn), up by 10.4%.

Grouped by consumption patterns, the income of the catering was 2,976.3 billion yuan, up by 9.8% year-on-year; and the retail sales of goods were 24,453.6 billion yuan, up by 9.2%.

The sales of upgraded consumer goods witnessed fast growth. Among the retail sales of enterprises above designated size, the retail sales of petroleum and related products, as well as communication appliances increased by 14.4% and 10.7% year-on-year, or 5.4 percentage points and 1.4 percentage points faster than the same period last year.

In September, the total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 9.2% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point faster than August.

In the first three quarters, the national per capita consumption expenditure of residents was 14,281 yuan (US$2,055.49), a nominal year-on-year growth of 8.5%, 1.0 percentage point faster than the same period last year, or a real growth of 6.3% after price adjustment, 0.4 percentage point faster.

Specifically, the nominal growth of per capita consumption expenditure of urban households increased by 6.5%, 0.3 percentage point faster than the same period last year; the nominal growth of per capita consumption expenditure of rural households increased by 12.0%, 3.4 percentage points faster.

Private Investment and the Investment in Manufacturing Accelerated

In the first three quarters, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 48,344.2 billion yuan (US$6,958.27 bn), a year-on-year growth of 5.4%, 0.6 percentage point less than the first six months, and 0.1 percentage point faster than the first eight months.

Specifically, private investment reached 30,166.4 billion yuan (US$4,341.91 bn), up by 8.7% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point faster than H1 2018, or 2.7 percentage points faster than the same period last year.

The investment in the primary industry was up by 11.7%; the secondary industry grew by 5.2%, among which the investment in manufacturing was up by 8.7%, 1.9 percentage points faster than H1 2018, achieving a faster growth for the sixth consecutive month; the tertiary industry went up by 5.3%, among which the investment in infrastructure increased by 3.3%.

In the first three quarters, the total investment in real estate development was 8,866.5 billion yuan (US$1,276.17 bn), a year-on-year growth of 9.9%. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 1,193.13 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%. The total sales of commercial buildings were 10,413.2 billion yuan (US$1,498.79 bn), a growth of 13.3% year-on-year.

Growth of Export Speeded up

In the first three quarters, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 22,283.9 billion yuan (US$3,207.36 bn), an increase of 9.9% year-on-year, 2.1 percentage points faster than H1 2018.

Specifically, the value of exports totaled 11,858.5 billion yuan (US$1,706.82 bn), up by 6.5%, 1.8 percentage points faster than H1 2018; the value of imports totaled was 10,425.4 billion yuan (US$1,500.55 bn), an increase of 14.1% year-on-year, 2.5 percentage points faster than H1 2018.

The trade balance was 1,433.1 billion yuan (US$206.27 bn) in surplus, down by 28.3% than the same period last year. The imports and exports with major trading partners increased. The imports and exports with the European Union, the United States, and ASEAN went up by 7.3%, 6.5%, and 12.6%, respectively.

And the imports and exports with some countries along the “Belt and Road” demonstrated growing momentum. The imports and exports with Russia, Poland, and Kazakhstan went up by 19.4%, 11.9%, and 11.8%, respectively.

In September, the total value of imports and exports was 2,885.2 billion yuan (US$415.27 bn), a year-on-year increase of 17.2%. Among that, the total value of exports was 1,549.2 billion yuan (US$222.98 bn), up by 17.0%, and the total value of imports was 1,336.0 billion yuan (US$192.29 bn), up by 17.4%.

In the first three quarters, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 8,972.9 billion yuan (US$1,291.49 bn), a year-on-year increase of 8.1%.

In September, the export delivery value of the industrial enterprises above designated size reached 1,183.9 billion yuan (US$170.40 bn), a year-on-year increase of 11.7%.

Consumer Price Grew Mildly and the Growth of Prices for Industrial Products was Stable.

In the first three quarters, the consumer price went up by 2.1% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than H1 2018.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco, and alcohol went up by 1.6% year-on-year; clothing up by 1.2%; housing up by 2.4%; articles and services for daily use up by 1.6%; transport and communication up by 1.7%; education, culture, and recreation up by 2.2%; medical services and health care up by 5.0%; other articles and services up by 1.1%.

In September, the consumer price was up by 2.5% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than last month, and up by 0.7% month-on-month.

In the first three quarters, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 4.0% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than H1 2018. The purchasing prices for industrial producers went up by 4.5% year-on-year.

In September, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 3.6% year-on-year, 0.5 percentage point less than last month, up by 0.6% month-on-month; and the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 4.2% year-on-year, or up by 0.6% month-on-month.

The Surveyed Unemployment Rate Dropped and the Employment Situation was Generally Stable

In September, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.9%, 0.1 percentage point less than last month, or 0.1 percentage point less over the same month last year.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.7%, 0.2 percentage point less than last month and 0.1 percentage point less than the same month last year. Specifically, the surveyed unemployed rate of major labor force aged from 25 to 59 was 4.3%, which was the same as last month.

By the end of Q3 2018, the number of rural migrant workers reached 181.35 million, 1.66 million more than the same period last year, an increase of 0.9% year-on-year. The average monthly income of rural migrant workers was 3,710 yuan (US$533.99), an increase of 7.3% year-on-year.

Resident Income Grew Synchronized with the National Economy

In the first three quarters, the national per capita disposable income was 21,035 yuan (US$3,027.61), a nominal increase of 8.8% year-on-year, or a real increase of 6.6% after price adjustment; the growth rate was the same as H1 2018, which is almost same as that of the national economy.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 29,599 yuan (US$4,260.24), a nominal increase of 7.9% year-on-year, or a real increase of 5.7% after price adjustment.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 10,645 yuan (US$1,532.16), a nominal increase of 8.9% year-on-year, or a real increase of 6.8% after price adjustment. The per capita income of urban households was 2.78 times that of rural households, 0.03 less than the same period last year. The median of the national per capita disposable income was 18,236 yuan (US$2,624.74), a nominal increase of 8.7% year-on-year.

Economic Structure Continued to be Optimized and the Economy was more Consumption-based.

Industries continued to be upgraded. In the first three quarters, the growth rate of the value added of the tertiary industry was 1.9 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry, accounting for 53.1% of the GDP, which was 0.3 percentage point higher than the same period last year and 12.7 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry.

The role of consumption as the basic economic function was further solidified. In the first three quarters, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 78.0%, 46.2 percentage points higher than the total capital formation.

The consumption expenditure on services continued to represent a larger share. In the third quarter, the consumption expenditure on services accounted for 52.6% of the national consumption expenditure of households, 0.2 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

The investment structure continued to be optimized. In the first three quarters, the investment in the high-tech manufacturing industry grew by 14.9% year-on-year, 9.5 percentage points higher than the total investment.

The trade structure was further improved. In the first three quarters, import and export of general trade increased by 13.5%, accounting for 58.4% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared with the same period last year. The export of mechanical and electronic products grew by 7.8%, accounting for 58.3% of the total value of exports.

Growth of New Driving Forces was Accelerated

The capacity utilization rate maintained stably. In the first three quarters, the industrial capacity utilization rate nationwide was 76.6%, maintaining the same level as compared with the same period last year.

In Q3 2018, the capacity utilization rate of smelting and pressing of ferrous metals, as well as mining and washing of coals were 78.7% and 70.1%, respectively, or 2.0 and 1.1 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

The corporate cost and leverage ratio decreased. In the first eight months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal business of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 84.39 yuan, 0.35 yuan less than the same period last year.

By the end of August, the asset-liability ratio of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.6%, 0.5 percentage point lower than the same period last year.

The inventory of commercial buildings continued to decrease. By the end of September, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale has dropped by 13.0% year-on-year.

More efforts were taken to improving weak links of key fields. In the first three quarters, the investment in the management of environmental protection and treatment of environmental pollution and the investment in agriculture increased by 33.7% and 12.4% year-on-year, respectively, or 28.3 percentage points and 7.0 percentage points faster than the total investment.

The progress of green development was achieved steadily. In the first three quarters, the energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 3.1% year-on-year.

New industries grew fast. In the first three quarters, the value added of high-tech industries and equipment manufacturing increased by 11.8% and 8.6% year-on-year, 5.4 and 2.2 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

The value added of industrial strategic and emerging industries went up by 8.8% year on year, 2.4 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

New products grew rapidly. In the first three quarters, the production of new energy vehicles was up by 54.8% year-on-year, and integrated circuits up by 11.7%.

New types of business were booming. In the first three quarters, the online retail sales reached 6,278.5 billion yuan (US$903.68 bn), a year-on-year growth of 27.0%. Specifically, the online retail sales of physical goods were 4,793.8 billion yuan (US$689.98 bn), a year-on-year growth of 27.7%, accounting for 17.5% of the total retail sales of consumer goods; the online retail sales of non-physical goods was 1,484.7 billion yuan (US$213.69 bn), an increase of 24.8%.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 41,896.1 billion yuan (US$6,262.90 bn) in the first half year of 2018, a year-on-year increase of 6.8% at comparable prices, according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Specifically, the year-on-year growth was 6.8% for Q1 2018, and 6.7% for Q2 2018, staying within the range between 6.7% and 6.9% for 12 quarters consecutively.

The value added of the primary industry was 2,208.7 billion yuan (US$330.17 bn), up by 3.2% year-on-year; the secondary industry 16,929.9 billion yuan (US$2,530.79 bn), up by 6.1%; and the tertiary industry 22,757.6 billion yuan (US$3,401.95 bn), up by 7.6%.

Agricultural Production was Sound.

The output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 39.95 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 0.9%, among which the output of pork was 26.14 million tons, up by 1.4%. The number of pigs registered was 409.04 million, a year-on-year decrease of 1.8% and that of pigs slaughtered 334.22 million, a year-on-year growth of 1.2%.

The Industrial Production was Generally Stable.

The real growth rate of total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.7% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point lower than Q1 2018.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises went up by 7.6% year-on-year; collective enterprises down by 1.9%; share-holding enterprises up by 6.7%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 6.2%.

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining grew by 1.6% on a year-on-year base, the manufacturing grew by 6.9% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water grew by 10.5%.

The value added of high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing industry grew by 11.6% and 9.2% year-on-year respectively, 4.9 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size as a whole.

In June, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went up by 6.0% year-on-year. In the first five months of 2018, the total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size was 2,729.8 billion yuan (US$408.07 bn), up by 16.5% year-on-year.

The profit rate from principal businesses of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.36%, 0.35 percentage point higher than that of the same period last year.

Service Industry Grew Fast and the Emerging Services Witnessed Prosperous Development.

The Index of Services Production increased by 8.0% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point lower than Q1 2018, maintaining high growth rates. Specifically, information transmission, software and information technology services, rental and business services maintained high growth rates.

In June, the Index of Services Production increased by 8.0% year-on-year. In the first five months, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size grew by 13.3% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

Specifically, the business revenue of strategic emerging services, science and technology services, and high-tech services grew by 18.1%, 17.5% and 15.4% respectively, 2.4 percentage points, 5.0 percentage points, and 4.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.

The Growth of Consumer Consumption and Market Sales was Stable and the Growth of Upgraded Consumer Goods was Fast.

The national per capita consumption expenditure was 9,609 yuan (US$1,436.41), a nominal growth of 8.8% year-on-year, 1.2 percentage points higher than that of Q1 2018, or a real growth of 6.7% after deducting price factors, up by 1.3 percentage points.

The nominal growth of per capita consumption expenditure of urban households was 6.8%, up by 1.1 percentage points. The nominal growth of per capita consumption expenditure of rural households was 12.2%, up by 1.2 percentage points.

In the first half year, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 18,001.8 billion yuan (US$2,691.02 bn), a year-on-year increase of 9.4%, 0.4 percentage point lower than Q1.

Analyzed by different areas, the retail sales in urban areas reached 15,409.1 billion yuan (US$2,303.45 bn), up by 9.2%, and the retail sales in rural areas stood at 2,592.7 billion yuan (US$387.57 bn), up by 10.5%.

Grouped by consumption patterns, the income of catering was 1,945.7 billion yuan (US$290.86 bn), up by 9.9%; and the retail sales of goods were 16,056.1 billion yuan (US$2,400.17 bn), up by 9.3%.

The sales of upgraded consumer goods grew fast. The retail sales of enterprises above the designated size of household appliances and audio-video equipment, communication equipment and cosmetics went up by 10.6%, 10.6%, and 14.2% respectively, 0.2 percentage point, 0.5 percentage point and 2.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year. In June, the total retail sales of consumer goods rose by 9.0% year-on-year, 0.5 percentage point higher than last month.

The Growth of Investment in Fixed Assets was Stable and Private Investment and Manufacturing Investment Rebound.

The investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 29,731.6 billion yuan (US$4,444.47 bn), a year-on-year growth of 6.0%, 1.5 percentage points lower than Q1 2018.

Specifically, the private investment reached 18,453.9 billion yuan (US$2,758.61 bn), up by 8.4% year-on-year, 1.2 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

The investment in the primary industry increased by 13.5%; the secondary industry was up by 3.8%, among which the investment in manufacturing was up by 6.8%, achieving growth for the third consecutive month, 3.0 percentage points higher than Q1 2018, or 1.3 percentage points higher than the same period of last year; the tertiary industry grew by 6.8%, among which the investment in infrastructure was up by 7.3%.

The investment in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 13.1%, 7.1 percentage points higher than the total investment.

The investment in real estate development in the half year was 5,553.1 billion yuan (US$830.11 bn), a year-on-year growth of 9.7%. The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 771.43 million square meters, up by 3.3%. The sales of commercial buildings totaled 6,694.5 billion yuan (US$1,000.74 bn), up by 13.2%.

The Surplus of Imports and Exports of Goods was Narrowed and the Trade Structure Continued to be Improved.

The total value of imports and exports of goods was 14,122.7 billion yuan (US$2,111.15 bn), an increase of 7.9% year-on-year. The total value of exports was 7,512.0 billion yuan (US$1,122.94 bn), up by 4.9%; the total value of imports was 6,610.7 billion yuan (US$988.21 bn), an increase of 11.5%. The trade balance was 901.3 billion yuan (US$134.73 bn) in surplus, 26.7% less than the same period of last year.

The trade structure was further improved. The import and export of general trade increased by 12.2%, accounting for 59% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 2.3 percentage points compared with the same period of last year. The export of mechanical and electronic products increased by 7%, accounting for 58.6% of the total value of exports.

The imports and exports with the top three trade partners continued to grow. Specifically, the imports and exports with European Union, United States, and ASEAN went up by 5.3%, 5.2% and 11% respectively, which combined to make up 41% of the total value of imports and exports.

During the same period, the imports and exports with 16 Central and Eastern European countries increased by 14.7%, 6.8 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the total value of imports and exports.

In June, the total value of imports and exports was 2,493.6 billion yuan (US$372.76 bn), a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. Specifically, the total value of exports was 1,377.7 billion yuan (US$205.95), up by 3.1%, and the total value of imports was 1,115.8 billion yuan (US$166.8 bn), up by 6.0%.

In the first half year, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 5,716.2 billion yuan (US$854.5 bn), up by 5.7% year-on-year. In June, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 1,054.7 billion yuan (US$157.66 bn), up by 2.8%.

The Resident Income Grew Steadily and Employment was Good and Stable.

The national per capita disposable income was 14,063 yuan (US$2,102.23), a nominal growth of 8.7% year-on-year, or a real increase of 6.6% after deducting price factors.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 19,770 yuan, a nominal growth of 7.9% year-on-year, or a real growth of 5.8% after deducting price factors.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 7,142 yuan (US$1067.63), a nominal growth of 8.8% year-on-year, up by 6.8% after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.77 times that of the rural households, 0.02 less than the same period of last year. The median of the national disposal income was 12,186 yuan (US$1821.64), a nominal increase of 8.4% year-on-year.

In June, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 4.8%, the same as that of last month, or 0.1 percentage point lower than the same month of last year. The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 4.7%, the same as last month and 0.2 percentage point lower than the same period of last year.

By the end of Q2 2018, the number of rural migrant workers reached 180.22 million, 1.49 million more than the same period of last year, an increase of 0.8%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,661 yuan, a year-on-year growth of 7.5%.

The Consumer Price Rose Mildly and the Price of Industrial Products Rose Steadily.

The consumer price went up by 2.0% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point lower than Q1 2018.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco, and alcohol went up by 1.4% year-on-year; clothing up by 1.1%; housing up by 2.3%; articles and services for daily use up by 1.6%; transportation and communication up by 1.2%; education, culture and recreation up by 2.1%; medical services and health care up by 5.5%; other articles and services up by 1.1%.

In June, the consumer price was up by 1.9% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point higher than May and down by 0.1% month-on-month. In the first half year, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 3.9% year-on-year, 0.2 percentage point higher than Q1 2018; the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 4.4% year-on-year.

In June, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 4.7% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage point higher than last month, and a month-on-month increase of 0.3%; the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 5.1% year-on-year, or an increase of 0.4% month-on-month.

Economic Restructuring and Upgrading Achieved Notable Results and the Growth of New Driving Forces Accelerated.

An analysis by industrial structures shows that the growth rate of the value added of the tertiary industry was 1.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry, accounting for 54.3% of the GDP, which was 0.3 percentage point higher than that of the same period last year and 13.9 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry.

Analyzed by demand structures, the final consumption expenditure’s contribution to the economic growth reached 78.5%, 47.1 percentage points higher than the total capital formation.

New industries and new products grew rapidly. Analyzed by the structure of industrial sectors, the value added of industrial strategic and emerging industry grew by 8.7% year-on-year, 2.0 percentage points higher than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size. The production of new energy vehicles was up by 88.1% year-on-year, industrial robots up by 23.9% and integrated circuits up by 15.0%.

New Consumption was booming. Analyzed by trade structure, the online retail sales reached 4,081.0 billion yuan (US$610.05 bn) in the first half year, a year-on-year growth of 30.1%.

Specifically, the online retail sales of physical goods were 3,127.7 billion yuan (US$467.55 bn), an increase of 29.8%, accounting for 17.4% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, up by 3.6 percentage points year-on-year; the online retail sales of non-physical goods was 953.3 billion yuan (US$142.51 bn), an increase of 30.9%.

Green development was moving forward steadily. In terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, the energy consumption per unit of GDP was down by 3.2% year-on-year in the first half year.

The Supply-Side Structural Reform was Deepened and the Expectation of the Market was Positive.

The industrial capacity utilization rate nationwide was 76.7%, 0.2 percentage point higher than Q1 2018, and 0.3 percentage point higher than the same period of last year.

The efforts to reduce inventory made remarkable achievement. By the end of June, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale has dropped by 14.7% year-on-year.

The Corporate leverage ratio and cost continued to decrease. At the end of May, the asset-liability ratio of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.6%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6 percentage point.

For the first five months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal business of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 84.49 yuan, 0.31 yuan less year on year.

The investment in weak areas grew rapidly. In the first half year, the investment in the management of ecological protection and treatment of environmental pollution and the investment in agriculture increased by 35.4% and 15.4% year-on-year respectively, or 29.4 percentage points and 9.4 percentage points higher than the total investment respectively.

The market expectation stayed positive. In June, the PMI Composite Output Index was 54.4%, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index was 51.5% and the Business Activity Index for Non-Manufacturing Industries was 55.0%, continuing to perform within the expansion range.

Check out Information consumption trend in China 2018

America still leads the world economy at $20.4 trillion, a $1 trillion increase compared with last year. However, its dominance looks to be waning. The global economy will expand by $6.5 trillion between 2017 and 2019, according to data from the World Bank. America’s GDP is expected to account for 17.9% of this growth. China’s, however, is predicted to account for almost double this, at 35.2%.

China’s digital economy is also experiencing a boom period. It has grown from less than 1% of the global e-commerce market about 10 years ago to 42% today. In comparison, the United States’ share of the market is 24%, down from 35% in 2005.

China’s economy will also eclipse the US economy by 2050, according to a report by professional services firm PwC, which also predicts India will overtake the US.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 19,878.3 billion yuan (US$3,141 billion) in Q1 2018, a year-on-year increase of 6.8% at comparable prices according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Agricultural Production was Sound.

The output of pork, beef, mutton, and poultry was 23.16 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 1.8%, among which the output of pork was 15.43 million tons, up by 2.1%. The number of pigs registered was 415.23 million, a year-on-year decrease of 1.2% and that of pigs slaughtered 199.83 million, a year-on-year growth of 1.9%.

How to use live streaming for successful marketing in China in 2018 

The Industrial Production was Generally Stable.

The year-on-year real growth rate of total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.8%, 0.4 percentage point slower than the first two months, growing at the same speed as Q1 2017.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises went up by 7.9% year-on-year; collective enterprises up by 0.1%; share-holding enterprises up by 7.0%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 5.5%.

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining grew by 0.9% on a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing grew by 7.0% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water grew by 10.8%.

The new industries and new products grew rapidly. The value added of high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing industry grew by 11.9% and 8.8% year-on-year respectively, 5.1 percentage points and 2.0 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size as a whole. The production of integrated circuits, new energy vehicles, and industrial robots grew by 15.2%, 139.4%, and 29.6% respectively.

The sales-output ratio of the industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 97.9%, 0.3 percentage point higher than Q1 2017.In March, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went up by 6.0% year-on-year, or up by 0.33% month-on-month.

In March, the manufacturing PMI was 51.5%, 1.2 percentage points higher than last month. In the first two months of 2018, the total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size was 968.9 billion yuan, up by 16.1% year-on-year. The profit rate from principal businesses of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.1%, 0.33 percentage point higher than that of the same period last year.

Service Industry Grew Fast.

The Index of Services Production increased by 8.1% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the first two months, and 0.2 percentage point slower than Q1 2017. Specifically, information transmission, software and information technology services, rental and business services maintained high growth rates.

In March, the Business Activity Index for services was 53.6%, 0.2 percentage point lower than last month but still higher than the average of last year.

In terms of sectors, railway transport, air transport, postal services, telecommunication, broadcast, television and satellite transmission services, internet and software information technology services, monetary and financial services, capital market services, and insurance all kept within the expansion range of 55% and above. As regards market expectation, the Business Activities Expectation Index was 60.1%, maintaining above 60.0% for 10 months in a row.

Private Investment Grew Faster.

The investment in fixed assets (excluding by rural households) was 10,076.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 7.5%, 0.4 percentage point slower than the first two months, and 1.7 percentage points lower than Q1 2017.

Specifically, the private investment reached 6,238.6 billion yuan, up by 8.9%, 0.8 percentage point faster than the first two months, 1.2 percentage points faster than Q1 2017.

The investment in the primary industry was 290.0 billion yuan, up by 24.2% year-on-year; the secondary industry 3,581.3 billion yuan, up by 2.0%, among which the investment in manufacturing was up by 3.8%; the tertiary industry 6,205.0 billion yuan, an increase of 10.0%, among which the investment in infrastructure was up by 13.0%.

The investment in high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 7.9%, 0.4 percentage point faster than the total investment. In March, the investment in fixed assets (excluding by rural households) grew by 0.57% compared with last month.

The Floor Space of Commercial Buildings for Sale Continued to Decrease.

The total investment in real estate development was 2,129.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 10.4%, 0.5 percentage point faster than the first two months and 1.3 percentage points faster than Q1 2018. Among which, the investment in residential buildings went up by 13.3%.

The floor space newly started was 346.15 million square meters, up by 9.7% year-on-year. Among which, the floor space of residential buildings newly started went up by 12.2%.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 300.88 million square meters, up by 3.6%. Among which, the floor space of residential buildings sold was up by 2.5%.

The total sales of commercial buildings were 2,559.7 billion yuan, a growth of 10.4%. Among which, the sales of residential buildings were up by 11.4%.

The land space purchased for real estate development was 38.02 million square meters, up by 0.5% year-on-year.

By the end of March, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 573.29 million square meters, 11.38 million square meters less than that at the end of February. The funds in place for real estate development enterprises in the first quarter reached 3,677.0 billion yuan, up by 3.1% year-on-year.

Market Sales Maintained Active.

The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 9,027.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 9.8%, 0.1 percentage point faster than the first two months, and 0.2 percentage point slower than Q1 2017.

Analyzed by different areas, the retail sales in urban areas reached 7,709.6 billion yuan, up by 9.7%, and the retail sales in rural areas stood at 1,317.9 billion yuan, up by 10.7%.

Grouped by consumption patterns, the income of catering was 971.1 billion yuan, up by 10.3%; and the retail sales of goods were 8,056.4 billion yuan, up by 9.8%.

Upgraded consumer goods grew fast. The retail sales of enterprises above the designated size of cosmetics and household appliances and audio-video equipment went up by 16.1% and 11.4% respectively, 6.2 percentage points and 3.4 percentage points faster than Q1 2017.

In March, the total retail sales of consumer goods rose by 10.1% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage point faster than the first two months, an increase of 0.73% month-on-month

In Q1 2018, the online retail sales reached 1,931.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 35.4%, 3.3 percentage points faster than Q1 2017. Among which, the online retail sales of physical goods were 1,456.7 billion yuan, an increase of 34.4%, accounting for 16.1% of the total retail sales, a year-on-year increase of 3.7 percentage points, and the online retail sales of non-physical goods were 475.1 billion yuan, an increase of 38.7%.

The Trade Surplus was Narrowed Substantially.

The total value of imports and exports was 6,751.6 billion yuan, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year. Among which, the total value of exports was 3,538.9 billion yuan, up by 7.4%; the total value of imports was 3,212.7 billion yuan, an increase of 11.7%. The trade balance was 326.2 billion yuan in surplus, 21.8% less than Q1 2017.

The trade structure was further improved. The import and export of general trade increased by 13.2 %, accounting for 58.3% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 2.0 percentage points compared with Q1 2017. The export of mechanical and electronic products still took the lead. The export of mechanical and electronic products increased by 9.5%, accounting for 59.4% of the total value of exports.

The foreign trade with the top three trade partners continued to grow. Specifically, the foreign trade with European Union, United States, and ASEAN went up by 8.2%, 6.3%, and 13.7% respectively. The foreign trade with the countries jointly building the Belt and Road gained momentum. The foreign trade with Russia, Poland and Kazakhstan increased by 20.5%, 16.6%, and 16.2%.

In March, the total value of imports and exports was 2,245.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.5%. The total value of exports was 1,107.8 billion yuan, down by 9.8%, and the total value of imports was 1,137.5 billion yuan, up by 5.9%.

In Q1 2018, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2,714.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. In March, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 1,001.6 billion yuan, up by 4.0%.

The Market Prices Grew Mildly.

The consumer price went up by 2.1% year on year, 0.1 percentage point slower than the first two months, and 0.7 percentage point higher than Q1 2017. Specifically, the price went up by 2.2% in the urban areas and 2.0% in the rural areas.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and alcohol went up by 1.9% year-on-year; clothing up by 1.2%; housing up by 2.4%; articles and services for daily use up by 1.6%; transportation and communication up by 0.7%; education, culture and recreation up by 2.2%; medical services and health care up by 6.0%; other articles and services up by 1.4%.

In terms of food, tobacco and alcohol prices, prices for grain went up by 1.1%, pork down by 9.9%, fresh vegetables up by 6.6%. In March, the year-on-year consumer price was up by 2.1%, 0.8 percentage point slower than last month and down by 1.1% month-on-month.

In Q1 2018, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 3.7% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage point lower than the first two months, 3.7 percentage points lower than Q1 2017. In March, the producer prices for industrial products went up by 3.1% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage point slower than last month, and 0.2 percentage point slower month-on-month.

In Q1 2018, the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 4.4% year-on-year; In March the prices went up by 3.7% year-on-year, down by 0.3% month-on-month.

The Employment was Generally Stable.

From January to March, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.0%, 5.0%, and 5.1% respectively, which was 0.2 percentage point, 0.4 percentage point, and 0.1 percentage point lower than the same month last year.

The urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities were 4.9%, 4.8% and 4.9%, which was 0.1 percentage point, 0.2 percentage point, and 0.1 percentage point lower than the same month last year. At the end of the first quarter, the number of outside migrant workers reached 174.41 million, 1.88 million more than the same period last year, an increase of 1.1%.

The Resident Income Grew Steadily.

The nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 7,815 yuan, a nominal growth of 8.8% year-on-year, or a real increase of 6.6% after deducting price factors.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 10,781 yuan, a real growth of 5.7% after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 4,226 yuan, up by 6.8% after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.55 times of the rural households, 0.02 less than Q1 2017.

The median of the nationwide disposal income was 6,580 yuan, a nominal increase of 8.5%.

The Supply-Side Structural Reform Produced Notable Results.

The industrial capacity utilization rate nationwide was 76.5%, 0.7 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

The efforts of reducing inventory made remarkable achievements. At the end of March, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale decreased by 16.7% year-on-year.

The effects of deleveraging continued to unfold. At the end of February, the asset-liability ratio of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 56.3%, 0.8 percentage point less year-on-year.

The cost for the real economy continued to decrease. For the first two months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal business of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 83.98 yuan, 0.33 yuan less year-on-year.

The investment in weak areas grew rapidly. In Q1 2018, the investment in the management of environmental protection and treatment of environment pollution, management of public facilities and agriculture increased by 34.2%, 13.4%, and 25.4% respectively, or 26.7 percentage points, 5.9 percentage points, and 17.9 percentage points higher than the total investment.

The value added of the tertiary industry contributed to 61.6% of the GDP growth, 25.5 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. The final consumption expenditure’s contribution to the economic growth reached 77.8%, 46.5 percentage points higher than the total capital formation.

New driving forces grew fast. In the first quarter, the number of newly registered enterprises was1.323 million, up by 5.4% year-on-year, an average of 14.7 thousand each day. The value added of industrial strategic and emerging industries went up by 9.6% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

Green development was moving forward steadily. In the first quarter, the energy consumption per unit of GDP dropped by 3.2% year-on-year.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 18,068.3 billion yuan (US$2,626.81 billion) in the first quarter of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 6.9% at comparable prices according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The planting intention survey on 110,000 rural households showed that the planting area intended for rice went down by 0.3%; wheat down by 0.8%; corn down by 4.0%; soya up by 8.1%; and cotton down by 0.7%.

The output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 22.49 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 0.2 percent, among which the output of pork was 14.68 million tons, up by 0.2 percent. The number of pigs registered was 410.95 million, a year-on-year growth of 0.1 percent and 191.49 million pigs slaughtered, a year-on-year growth of 0.2 percent.

In Q1 2017, the year-on-year real growth rate of total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was 6.8%, 1.0 percentage point faster than Q1 2016; 0.8 percentage point faster than 2016.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises went up by 6.2% year on year; collective enterprises up by 0.5%; share-holding enterprises up by 6.9%; and enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan up by 6.9%.

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining dropped by 2.4 percent on a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing grew by 7.4 percent and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas, and water grew by 8.9 percent.

The industrial structure continued to improve. The value added of high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing industry grew by 13.4% and 12.0% year on year respectively, 6.6 percentage points and 5.2 percentage points faster than that of the industrial enterprises above designated size as a whole, 2.6 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points higher than the whole of last year.

The sales-output ratio of the industrial enterprises above designated size reached 97.2%. In March 2017, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size went up by 7.6% year on year, 1.3 percentage points faster than that in the first two months of 2017, or up by 0.83 percentage point month on month.

The index of national services production increased by 8.3% year on year, 0.1 percentage point higher than Q1 2016. Information transmission, software and information technology services, and transport, storage and postal services maintained high growth rates.

The growth rates of wholesale, retail trade, accommodation, and catering trade picked up considerably. In March 2017, the business activity index for sectors like retail trade, air transport, postal services, internet and software information technology services, monetary and financial services, capital market services, and insurance all kept within the expansion range of over 55%.

The investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 9,377.7 billion yuan (US$1,361.35 bn) in Q1 2017, a year-on-year growth of 9.2%, 1.1 percentage points faster than the whole year of 2016, 0.3 percentage point faster that than in the first two months of 2017.

The investment by the state holding enterprises reached 3,308.7 billion yuan (US$480.32 bn), up 13.6%; private investment reached 5,731.3 billion yuan, up by 7.7%.

The investment in infrastructure was 1,899.7 billion yuan, an increase of 23.5%. The investment in high-tech industry increased by 22.6%, 13.4 percentage points faster than the total investment. The funds in place for investment in fixed assets in the first quarter were 10,608.1 billion yuan, down by 2.9 percent. The total investment in newly-started projects was 6,201.5 billion yuan, a drop of 6.5% year on year. .

The total investment in real estate development in the first quarter was 1,929.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 9.1 percent, 2.2 percentage points faster than last year, and 0.2 percentage point faster than the first two months. The investment in residential buildings went up by 11.2%. The floor space started was 315.60 million square meters, up by 11.6% year on year. Specifically, the floor space of residential buildings newly started went up by 18.1%.

The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 290.35 million square meters, up by 19.5%. The floor space of residential buildings sold was up by 16.9%. The total sales of commercial buildings were 2,318.2 billion yuan, a growth of 25.1 percent. The sales of residential buildings were up by 20.2 percent. The land space purchased for real estate development was 37.82 million square meters, up by 5.7 percent year on year.

The total retail sales of consumer goods in China reached 8,582.3 billion yuan (US$1,245.89 bn) in Q1 2017, a year-on-year rise of 10.0%, 0.4 percentage point less than the whole of last year.

The total value of imports and exports in Q1 2017 was 6,198.6 billion yuan (US$899.85 bn), an increase of 21.8% year on year. The total value of exports was 3,326.8 billion yuan, up by 14.8%; the total value of imports was 2,871.8 billion yuan, an increase of 31.1%. The trade balance was 454.9 billion yuan in surplus.

The export of mechanical and electronic products increased by 15.1%, accounting for 58.1% of the total value of exports. The imports from and exports to some countries along One Belt, One Road went up. The exports to Russia, Pakistan, Poland, Kazakhstan and India increased by 37.0%, 18.7%, 19%, 69.3%, and 27.7%.

The consumer price in China went up by 1.4% year on year in Q1 2017, 0.7 percentage point less than the same period of last year.

The national per capita disposable income was 7,184 yuan (US$1,042.9), a nominal growth of 8.5% year on year or a real growth of 7.0% after deducting price factors. The growth rate of income was 0.1 percentage point higher than that of GDP.

The per capita disposable income of the urban residents was 9,986 yuan (US$1,449.66), a real growth of 6.3 percent after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of the rural residents was 3,880 yuan, up by 7.2 percent in real terms.

The per capita income of the urban residents was 2.57 times of that of the rural residents, 0.02 less than the same period last year. The median of the national per capita disposable income was 6,067 yuan, a nominal increase of 6.7 percent.

The per capita expenditure nationwide was 4,796 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.7%, or 6.2% after deducting price factors.

By the end of February, the number of rural migrant workers was 172.53 million, which was 4.54 million more than the same period last year, or up by 2.7 percent. The monthly income of migrant workers was 3,482 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4 percent.

Some economists think official Chinese economic data understates performance using data on satellite-recorded nighttime lights as an independent benchmark for comparing various published indicators of the state of the Chinese economy.

“Alibaba economy” to generate about 30% of all jobs in 2035

The top 6 regions by GDP in China remain the same in 2016 as compared to 2015: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Henan, Sichuan.

The preliminary accounting results show China’s GDP was 211,281 billion yuan for Q4 2016 with a growth rate of 6.8% and 744,121 billion yuan for the whole year of 2016 with a growth rate of 6.7%.

Chongqing city has the fastest GDP growth of 10.7% in 2016, followed by Guizhou province (10.5%) and Tibet (10%). Liaoning province is the only province with negative growth in 2016, who falsified its economic data for years.

Top Regions/Provinces in China by GDP since 2015

Also read: travel market overview 2016, pet market 2016-2020, mobile apps market insights in 2016

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 67.6708 trillion yuan (US$10.2872 trillion) with an increase of 6.9% YoY in 2015. The growth rate hit a record low since 1990 according to National Bureau of Statistics.

Related: China GDP grew faster than expected in Q1 2017, Top China Provinces/Municipalities by GDP in 2016

Shanghai ranked top city in China in 2015 with GDP of 2.5 trillion yuan (US$0.38 trillion), followed by Beijing (US$0.35 trillion) and Guangzhou (US$0.28 trillion). Hangzhou reached over 1 trillion yuan becoming the tenth largest GDP city in China.

Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, ranked top 11th top GDP city in China in 2015 and it was expected to reach 1 trillion yuan (US$0.15 trillion) in 2016.

Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province,  ranked the 21st largest GDP city in China in 2015. Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang provinces were the four strongest provinces in economy in China in 2015.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

China’s travel market reached a total number of of 4.12 billion person-trips in 2015 according to China National Tourism Administration. China’s domestic travel market exceeded 40 million person-trips contributing over 4 trillion yuan (US$0.61 trillion) for China.

120 million travelers traveled abroad in 2015. China ranked first globally in the number of travelers and total travel spend. Data of National Tourism Data Center showed that the travel market has created 10.2% of the total jobs in China.

Korea has been a popular outbound destination for China’s travelers. The total number of 6.11 million tourists traveled to Korea in 2015 which accounted for over 40% of Korea’s inbound travelers according to CCTV financial reports.

Over 70% China’s tourists traveled to Korea for shopping in 2015, 20% for experiencing Korean culture, and the other for plastic surgery and sightseeing according to Korea Tourism Organization. Chinese travelers spent an average of US$2,200 per person in Korea, much higher than foreign travelers’ average spend in 2015.

China’s consumers spent much time in duty-free shops. Each China’s traveler spent about 2,800 yuan (US$424.57) in Lotte according to the manager of Lotte duty-free shop in Korea. The consumption was predicted to increase by at least 10% at the end of 2015. China’s tourists brought in US$22 billion for Korea accounting for 1.6% of Korea’s GDP in terms of spend on accommodation, transport, shopping, and others.

To maintain China’s outbound travelers to Korea, the Korean government was considering to provide visa-free and a package of policies according to the president of Korea.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015

By 2025, China’s investment in tourism will amount to US$278.7 billion, taking over the US as the world’s largest tourism country according to WTTC. In the following 10 years, the growth rate of the tourism industry will continue higher growth than the macro-economy. The tourism industry is expected to offer 72.9 million new jobs.

Although China’s economic growth slows down, China in the global tourism market gains an increasingly larger share. According to data of the World Travel and Tourism Council, annual growth rate of China tourism GDP a is 3.8%, slightly lower than the previous year’s estimation of 4.1%. Many factors can explain why China will be difficult to maintain high growth rates, including the gradual loss of the demographic dividend, decline of return on investment (ROI) year by year, unfavorable external environment, slowing productivity growth , transformation of the economic structure and others.

By 2025, China’s investment in tourism will reach US$278.7 billion, taking over the US as the world’s largest tourism country. However, the total tourism GDP contribution, inbound and outbound tourism consumption rank after the United States. The contribution of the tourism industry in China’s GDP will increase from 9.8% 2014 to 10.5% 2025 and tourism employment in the total employment rises from 9.4% 2014 to 10.7% 2015, mainly due to strong growth demand in the emerging market and a growing consumption trend in tourism, in addition, the support of the government and the companies to meet the large demand of tourism infrastructure and talents.

By 2025, China will surpass Spain and France to be the second largest country by tourism revenue, following the U.S., and the largest tourism spending country, followed by America, German and the United States.

Also read: China the Largest Inbound Tourism Market for Japan H1 2015

According to National Bureau of Statistics of China, GDP of China was 63,646.3 billion yuan (USD 10,239.9 billion) in 2014, an increase of 7.4% at comparable prices.

The year-on-year GDP growth of the first quarter in 2014 was 7.4%, the second quarter 7.5%, the third quarter 7.3%, and the fourth quarter 7.3%. The gross domestic product of the fourth quarter of 2014 went up by 1.5% quarter-on-quarter.

Agricultural Production

China’s total grain output in 2014 was 607.10 million tons, an increase of 5.16 million tons, up by 0.9%.

• Summer grain: 136.60 million tons, an increase of 3.6%
• Early rice: 34.01 million tons, a decrease of 0.4%
• Autumn grain: 436.49 million tons, an increase of 0.1%
• Cereals: 557.27 million tons, an increase of 0.8%
• Cotton: 6.16 million tons, a decrease of 2.2%
• Pork, beef, mutton and poultry: 85.40 million tons, an increase of 2.0%
• Poultry eggs: 28.94 million tons, an increase of 0.6%
• Milk: 37.25 million tons, an increase of 5.5%

Industrial Production

The total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size in 2014 was up by 8.3% at comparable prices.

An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added growth of:

• the state-owned and state holding enterprises: 4.9%;
• collective enterprises: 1.7%;
• share-holding enterprises: 9.7 percent;
• enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan: 6.3%

Out of the 464 kinds of industrial products, the output of 329 kinds realized an increase compared with last year. In 2014, the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 97.8%. The export delivery value of these enterprises reached 12,093.3 billion yuan, up by 6.4%.

In December, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up by 7.9% year-on-year or up by 0.75% month-on-month.

Investment in Fixed Assets

In 2014, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) in China was 50,200.5 billion yuan, the nominal year-on-year growth of 15.7% over last year (a real growth of 15.1% after deducting price factors).

• The investment by the state-owned and state holding enterprises: 16,162.9 billion yuan, a rise of 13.0%
• Private investment: 32,157.6 billion yuan, up by 18.1%, accounting for 64.1% of the total investment

The growth in eastern, central and western regions was 14.6%, 17.2% and 17.5% respectively.

The total investment in real estate development in 2014 was 9,503.6 billion yuan, a nominal growth of 10.5% (a real growth of 9.9% after deducting price factors). In particular, the investment in residential buildings went up by 9.2%.

China Retail Market

In 2014, China’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached 26,239.4 billion yuan, a nominal annual rise of 12.0% (a real growth of 10.9 percent after deducting price factors).

The retail sales in urban areas reached 22,636.8 billion yuan, up by 11.8%; and the retail sales in rural areas stood at 3,602.7 billion yuan, up by 12.9%.

The income of catering industry was 2,786.0 billion yuan, up by 9.7%; and the retail sales of goods were 23,453.4 billion yuan, up by 12.2%.

In December, the nominal growth of total retail sales of consumer goods was 11.9% over last year (a real growth of 11.5% after deducting price factors), or 1.01% month-on-month.

In 2014, the online retail sales reached 2,789.8 billion yuan, an increase of 49.7% compared with last year and the online retail sales of the enterprises (units) above designated size stood at 440.0 billion yuan, up by 56.2%.

Imports and Exports: Slowed Down

The total value of imports and exports in 2014 was 26,433.5 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3%. The total value of exports was 14,391.2 billion yuan, up by 4.9%; the total value of imports was 12,042.3 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.6%. The trade balance was 2,348.9 billion yuan in surplus.

In December, the total value of imports and exports was 2,490.1 billion yuan, the year-on-year growth of 4.2%. Of this total, the value of exports was 1,397.3 billion yuan, up by 9.9%; and that of imports was 1,092.8 billion yuan, down by 2.3%.

Consumer Price: Increased at a Low Rate

In 2014, the consumer price went up by 2.0% in China. The price went up by 2.1% in urban areas and 1.8% in rural areas.

• Prices for food rose by 3.1%
• tobacco, liquor and related articles decreased by 0.6%
• clothing up by 2.4%;
• household facilities, articles and maintenance services up by 1.2%
• health care and personal articles grew by 1.3%
• transportation and communication down by 0.1%
• recreation, education, culture articles and services up by 1.9%
• housing up by 2.0%

Grain grew up by 3.1%, oil or fat down by 4.9%, pork down by 4.3%, fresh vegetables down by 1.5%.

In December 2014, the consumer prices went up by 1.5% year-on-year, or 0.3% up month-on-month. In 2014, the producer prices for industrial products went down by 1.9% compared with last year, while the price in December dropped by 3.3% year-on-year and 0.6% month-on-month. The purchasing price for industrial producers was down by 2.2% compared with last year and in December, the price was down by 4.0% year-on-year and 0.8% month-on-month.

Residents’ Income: Continued to Increase

Based on the integrated household survey, the national per capita disposable income was 20,167 yuan in 2014, a nominal growth of 10.1% or a real increase of 8.0% after deducting price factors.

In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 28,844 yuan, a nominal growth of 9.0%, or a real growth of 6.8% after deducting price factors.

The per capita disposable income of rural residents was 10,489 yuan, up by 11.2% nominally, or 9.2% in real terms. The median of the national disposal income was 17,570 yuan, a nominal increase of 12.4%.

Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, that of the low-income group reached 4,747 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 10,887 yuan, the middle-income group 17,631 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 26,937 yuan, and the high-income group 50,968 yuan.

The Gini Coefficient for national disposable income in 2014 was 0.469. The per capita net income of rural residents was 9,892 yuan, an increase of 9.2% after deducting the price factors. The number of rural migrant workers at the end of the year was 273.95 million, which was 5.01 million more than that in the previous year, or up by 1.9%. Specifically, the numbers of local and outside workers were 105.74 million and 168.21 million respectively, up by 2.8 and 1.3%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 2,864 yuan, up by 9.8%.

Industrial Structural: Stable Progress

The industrial structure was further optimized. In 2014, the value of the tertiary industry accounted for 48.2% of GDP, 1.3 percentage points higher than last year, 5.6 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry.

The structure of domestic demand was further improved. In 2014, the final consumption expenditure accounted for 51.2% of GDP in China, 3.0 percentage points higher than last year.

The income gap between urban and rural households was further narrowed. In 2014, the real growth of the per capita disposable income of rural households was 2.4 percentage points faster than that of urban households. The per capita income of urban households was 2.75 times of the rural households, 0.06 less than last year.

In 2014, the energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased by 4.8% compared with last year.

Money Supply

By the end of December 2014, the balance of broad money (M2) was 122.84 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.2% compared with that at the end of last year; the balance of narrow money (M1) was 34.81 trillion yuan, up by 3.2%; and the balance of cash in circulation (M0) was 6.03 trillion yuan, a rise of 2.9%.

At the end of December, the amount of outstanding loans was 81.68 trillion yuan, while the amount of outstanding deposits was 113.86 trillion yuan. In 2014, the newly increased loans reached 9.78 trillion yuan, an increase of 890.0 billion yuan; the newly increased deposits were 9.48 trillion yuan, or 3.08 trillion yuan less than last year. The social financing reached 16.46 trillion yuan, a decrease of 859.8 billion yuan.

Population and Employment

By the end of 2014, the total population of mainland China was 1,367.82 million (including population of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and servicemen in CPLA; but excluding residents in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Taiwan Province and overseas Chinese), an increase of 7.10 million over that at the end of 2013.

In 2014, the number of births was 16.87 million and the birth rate was 12.37 in a thousand; the number of deaths were 9.77 million with a death rate of 7.16 in a thousand; the natural growth rate was 5.21 in a thousand, an increase of 0.29 in a thousand.

In terms of gender, the male population was 700.79 million, and female population was 667.03 million; the sex ratio of total population was 105.06 (the female is 100, male to female); the sex ratio at birth was 115.88.

Population at the working age of 16-59 was 915.83 million, a decrease of 3.71 million as compared that at the end of 2013, and it accounted for 67.0% of the total population; population aged 60 and over was 212.42 million, which was 15.5% of the total population; population aged 65 and over was 137.55 million, accounting for 10.1% of the total population.

In terms of urban-rural structure, the urban population was 749.16 million, an increase of 18.05 million over the previous year; and the rural population was 618.66 million, a decrease of 10.95 million. The proportion of urban population to total population was 54.77%.

The population who reside in street communities but with permanent household registration elsewhere and having been away from that place for more than 6 months reached 298 million, which was 9.44 million more than that in the previous year. The migrant population was 253 million, or 8.00 million more. At the end of the year, the total number of employed persons was 772.53 million, or 2.76 million more than that at the end of 2013; the number of urban employed persons was 393.10 million, or 10.70 million more.

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According to National Bureau of Statistics of China, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China in the first three quarters of 2014 was RMB 41,990.8 billion (USD 6,858.5 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.4%.

China’s year-on-year growth was 7.4% for Q1 2014, 7.5% for Q2 and 7.3% for Q3. The value added of the primary industry was 3,799.6 billion yuan, up by 4.2 percent; that of the secondary industry was 18,578.7 billion yuan, up by 7.4 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 19,612.5 billion yuan, up by 7.9 percent. The gross domestic product of the third quarter of 2014 went up by 1.9 percent on a quarterly basis.

Agricultural Production Showed Good Momentum.

The total output of summer grain was 136.60 million tons, an increase of 4.75 million tons, up by 3.6%. The output of early rice was 34.01 million tons, a decrease of 125 thousand tons, down by 0.4%. The autumn grain production is expected to get a good harvest again.

In the first three quarters of 2014, the total output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry reached 59.75 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 2.0%. The output of pork reached 39.72 million tons, up by 3.3%.

The Growth of Industrial Production Remained Stable

The total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size in the first three quarters was up by 8.5% at comparable prices, or 0.3 percentage point lower than that in the first half of the year. The value added growth of the state-owned and state holding enterprises went up by 5.2%; collective enterprises 2.6%; share-holding enterprises 9.9%; and 6.7% for enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan provinces.

The value added of the mining grew by 4.8% on a year-on-year base, the manufacturing by 9.6% and the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water by 3.1%. The growth rates in eastern, central and western regions were up by 8.0%, 8.5% and 10.6% respectively.

Out of the 464 kinds of industrial products, 346 kinds realized year-on-year increase in output. In the first three quarters, the sales-output ratio of industrial enterprises above designated size was 97.7%, or 0.2 percentage point higher than that in the first half of the year. The export delivery value reached 8,748.3 billion yuan, up by 6.4%. In September, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up by 8.0% year-on-year, or 0.91% month-on-month.

In the first eight months of this year, the profits made by industrial enterprises above designated size stood at 3,833.0 billion yuan, up by 10.0% year-on-year. Of this total, the profit from primary activities was 3,587.0 billion yuan, up by 9.6%. The costs for per-hundred-yuan turnover of primary activities of the industrial enterprises above designated size reached 86.06 yuan and the profit rate of the primary activities was 5.52%.

Investment in Fixed Assets Slowed Down.

In the first three quarters, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 35,778.7 billion yuan, a growth of 16.1% (a real growth of 15.3% after deducting price factors), or 1.2 percentage points lower than that in the first half of the year.

Investment in the state-owned and state holding enterprises reached 11,236.9 billion yuan, a rise of 14.1%; private investment reached 23,150.9 billion yuan, up by 18.3%, accounting for 64.7% of the total investment.

The growth in eastern, central and western regions was 14.9%, 17.8% and 17.9% respectively. The investment in the primary industry was 864.2 billion yuan, up by 27.7%; the secondary industry 15,018.0 billion yuan, up by 13.7%; and the tertiary industry 19,896.5 billion yuan, an increase of 17.4%. The funds in place for investment in the first three quarters were 39,114.1 billion yuan, up by 12.4%. Specifically, the state budget went up by 14.1%, domestic loans up by 11.2%, self-raising funds up by 16.1%, and foreign investment down by 7.0%. The total planned investment in newly-started projects in the first three quarters was 30,372.9 billion yuan, an increase of 14.4%. In September, investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 0.77% month-on-month.

The total investment in real estate development in the first three quarters was 6,875.1 billion yuan, a nominal annual growth of 12.5% (a real growth of 11.7% after deducting price factors), or 1.6 percentage points lower than that in the first half of the year. In particular, the investment in residential buildings went up by 11.3%. The floor space started in the first three quarters was 1,314.11 million square meters, down by 9.3%. Specifically, the floor space of residential buildings went down by 13.5%. The floor space of commercial buildings sold was 771.32 million square meters, down by 8.6%. Specifically, the floor space of residential buildings sold was down by 10.3%. The total sales of commercial buildings were 4,922.7 billion yuan, down by 8.9%. Specifically, the sales of residential buildings were down by 10.8%. The land space purchased for real estate development was 240.14 million square meters, down by 4.6%. By the end of September, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 571.48 million square meters, up by 28.0%. The funds in place for real estate development enterprises in the first three quarters reached 8,986.9 billion yuan, up by 2.3%.

Sales on Domestic Markets Enjoyed a Steady Growth.

In the first three quarters, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 18,915.1 billion yuan, a nominal annual rise of 12.0% (a real growth of 10.8% after deducting price factors), or 0.1 percentage point lower than that in the first half of the year.

The retail sales of the enterprises (units) above designated size stood at 9,423.3 billion yuan, up by 9.5%. Analyzed by different areas, the retail sales in urban areas reached 16,313.2 billion yuan, up by 11.9%, and the retail sales in rural areas stood at 2,601.9 billion yuan, up by 13.0%.

Grouped by consumption patterns, the income of catering industry was 1,993.4 billion yuan, up by 9.7%; and the retail sales of goods were 16,921.7 billion yuan, up by 12.3%. In particular, the retail sales of the enterprises (units) above designated size reached 8,841.4 billion yuan, an annual growth of 10.1%. In September, the total retail sales of consumer goods rose 11.6% year-on-year (a real growth of 10.8% after deducting price factors), or 0.85% month-on-month.

In the first three quarters, the online retail sales reached 1,823.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 49.9%, and the online retail sales of the enterprises (units) above designated size stood at 288.8 billion yuan, up by 54.8%.

The Growth Rates of Imports and Exports Picked up.

The total value of imports and exports in the first three quarters was 19,422.3 billion yuan or 3,162.6 billion US dollars, an increase of 3.3%, or 2.1 percentage points higher than that in the first half of the year.

The total value of exports was 10,422.4 billion yuan, or 1,697.1 billion US dollars, up by 5.1%; the total value of imports was 8,999.8 billion yuan, or 1,465.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.3%. The trade surplus was 1,422.6 billion yuan or 231.6 billion US dollars.

In September, the total value of imports and exports was 2,441.7 billion yuan or 396.4 billion US dollars, up by 11.3%. The total value of exports was 1,315.9 billion yuan or 213.7 billion US dollars, up by 15.3%; and that of imports was 1,125.8 billion yuan or 182.7 billion US dollars, up by 7.0%.

The Growth of Consumer Price was Generally Stable.

In the first three quarters, the consumer price went up by 2.1% year-on-year, or 0.2 percentage point lower than that in the first half of the year. Specifically, the price went up by 2.2% in urban areas and 1.9% in rural areas.

Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food rose by 3.3%; tobacco, liquor and articles down by 0.6%; clothing up by 2.4%; household facilities, articles and maintenance services up by 1.2%; health care and personal articles grew by 1.2%; transportation and communication up by 0.1%; recreation, education, culture articles and services grew by 2.2% and housing went up by 2.3%.

In terms of food prices, grain grew up by 3.1%, oil or fat down by 5.0%, pork down by 4.5% and fresh vegetables down by 1.3%. In September, the consumer prices went up by 1.6% year-on-year, or 0.5% month-on-month.

In the first three quarters, the producer prices for industrial products went down by 1.6% year-on-year, while the price in September dropped by 1.8% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month. The purchasing price for industrial producers was down by 1.8% year-on-year. In September, the price was down by 1.9% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month.

Residents’ Income Kept Steady Growth.

In the first three quarters, the per capita cash income of rural households was 8,527 yuan, up by 11.8% nominally, or 9.7% in real terms. The per capita disposable income of urban households was 22,044 yuan, a nominal growth of 9.3%, or a real growth of 6.9% after deducting price factors.

Based on the integrated household survey, in the first three quarters of 2014, the national per capita disposable income was 14,986 yuan, a nominal growth of 10.5% or a real increase of 8.2%. The median of the national per capita disposable income was 13,120 yuan, a nominal increase of 12.1%.

By the end of September, the number of rural migrant workers was 175.61 million, which was 1.69 million more than that in the same period last year, or up by 1.0%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 2,797 yuan, up by 10.0%.

Structural Adjustment Achieved Considerable Progress.

The industrial structure was more optimized. In the first three quarters, the value added of the tertiary industry accounted for 46.7% of the GDP, which was 1.2 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year, or 2.5percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry.

The structure of domestic demand continued to be improved. In the first three quarters, the final consumption expenditure accounted for 48.5% of the GDP growth, which was 2.7 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year. The income gap between urban and rural households was further narrowed.

In the first three quarters, the real growth of the per capita cash income of rural households was 2.8 percentage points higher than the per capita disposable income of urban households. The per capita income of urban households was 2.59 times that of the rural households, 0.05 less than that of the same period last year. Energy conservation and consumption reduction continued to make new achievements. In the first three quarters, the energy consumption per unit of GDP went down by 4.6%.

Money Supply Maintained a Steady Growth.

By the end of September, the balance of broad money (M2) was 120.21 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 12.9%; the balance of narrow money (M1) was 32.72 trillion yuan, up by 4.8%; and the balance of cash in circulation (M0) was 5.88 trillion yuan, a rise of 4.2%.

At the end of September, the amount of outstanding loans was 79.58 trillion yuan, while the amount of outstanding deposits was 112.66 trillion yuan. In the first three quarters, the newly increased loans reached 7.68 trillion yuan, an increase of 404.5 billion yuan; the newly increased deposits were 8.27 trillion yuan, a decrease of 2.99 trillion yuan year-on-year. The social financing reached 12.84 trillion yuan, a decrease of 1.12 trillion yuan year-on-year.

China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in more than five years in Q3 2014 though the data still beats estimates.

Read more: China Consumer Prices Index Up by 1.6% YoY in September

An impressive 22 provinces reported GDP figures in excess of 1 trillion yuan (US$158 billion).

Primary Chinese Provincial GDP Figures