A noteworthy 21 provinces reported an average disposable income exceeding 30,000 yuan (about US$4,222), with seven surpassing the 40,000 yuan (US$5,629) mark. Remarkably, both Shanghai and Beijing have crossed the substantial threshold of 80,000 yuan (US$11,257).

The data, disclosed on January 17, 2024, illuminates the national average disposable income at 39,218 yuan (US$5,519), marking a nominal increase of 6.3% from the previous year.

After adjusting for inflation, the real growth stands at 6.1%. Urban residents enjoyed a higher average disposable income of 51,821 yuan, a 5.1% nominal growth, translating to a 4.8% real increase. Meanwhile, rural inhabitants saw their income climb to 21,691 yuan, boasting a more robust growth of 7.7% nominally and 7.6% in real terms.

Drilling down to provincial specifics, eight provinces outpaced the national average, predominantly from the affluent eastern coastal regions, including Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Guangdong, Fujian, and Shandong.

Shanghai and Beijing stand out, with incomes soaring above 80,000 yuan, at 84,834 yuan and 81,752 yuan respectively, highlighting a significant gap with other provinces.

This income disparity underscores the economic might of Shanghai and Beijing, where high urbanization rates, advanced service sectors, cutting-edge technology industries, and a concentration of high-paying jobs attract a wealth of talent.

These cities dominate in lucrative sectors like information transmission, software, information technology services, financial services, and scientific research, contributing to their high average incomes.

Following Shanghai and Beijing, Zhejiang claims the third spot with an average disposable income of 63,830 yuan.

Ding Changfa, an associate professor of economics at Xiamen University, attributes this to Zhejiang’s thriving private economy and small urban-rural income disparity, fuelled by industrial clusters across numerous counties. This prosperity often translates into higher investment rates among residents, further boosting their income through asset gains.

The rankings continue with Jiangsu, Tianjin, Guangdong, Fujian, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, and Liaoning, delineating a clear economic pecking order.

Notably, Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, and Anhui lead the central and western regions, reflecting their advanced industrialization and urbanization levels.

The report highlights the branding strengths of nine major Chinese cities, all making it into the top 100 global city brands. This includes Shanghai (54th), Beijing (58th), Shenzhen (73rd), Chongqing (74th), Macau (81st), Guangzhou (85th), Chengdu (89th), and Nanjing (93rd).

Key Findings from the Report:

1. Hong Kong’s Global Standing:
   • Hong Kong ranks exceptionally in “Familiarity” (9th globally) and as a “Global Important City” (10th).
   • Known as one of Asia’s largest financial centers, Hong Kong’s favorable tax system, straightforward listing procedures, and robust regulatory framework make it highly attractive to foreign investors.
   • With the easing of travel restrictions, Hong Kong is poised for a strong economic rebound this year.
2. Shanghai’s Financial Influence:
   • Ranking 14th in “Global City Influence,” Shanghai asserts its position as a globally impactful financial center.
   • The city leads China in “Future Growth Potential” (7th) and “Strong and Stable Economy” (18th).
3. Beijing’s Global and Cultural Impact:
   • Beijing scores high in “Global Importance” (13th) and “City Familiarity” (20th).
   • Renowned for its exquisite royal palaces and museums, Beijing is also China’s leader in rich history and heritage (31st globally), making it a popular tourist destination.
4. Shenzhen’s Business and Trade Value:
   • Shenzhen ranks as China’s most valuable city for business and trade (16th globally).
   • The city excels in “Ease of Employment” (4th), “Ease of Starting a Business and Innovation” (5th), “Access to Skilled Labor” (6th), and “Ease of Doing Business” (10th).
5. Chongqing’s Emerging Presence:
   • Known as China’s “Mountain City,” Chongqing, despite limited global familiarity (98th), outranks other Chinese cities in various domains among those who know it.
6. Macau’s Tourist Appeal:
   • Macau leads China in “Lifestyle” (32nd), “Entertainment” (35th), and “Openness and Warmth” (57th), maintaining its allure as a tourist destination.
7. Guangzhou’s Manufacturing Ambitions:
   • Poised to become one of China’s leading manufacturing hubs, Guangzhou consistently ranks in the top 20 for “Access to Skilled Labor” (15th), “Ease of Doing Business” (15th), “Personal Tax Benefits” (17th), and “Ease of Employment” (18th).
8. Chengdu’s Financial Sector Growth:
   • Envisioned as a national financial center in Western China, Chengdu is gaining a reputation in financial technology, rural finance, and consumer finance.
   • The city ranks second in China for “Future Growth Potential” (33rd) and “Investment Reputation” (52nd).
9. Nanjing’s Friendly Business Environment:
   • As one of the nation’s most business-friendly cities, Nanjing ranks second and third in China for “Corporate Tax Benefits” (10th) and “Ease of Employment” (13th) respectively.

The Brand Finance report showcases Chinese cities’ diverse strengths and growing global recognition, positioning them as key players on the world stage.

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.

Top 10 Smart City Forecast in China 2022-2025

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

China IoT market forecast 2021-2024; Internet of Vehicles the fastest growing segment

In rural areas, the seriously unbalanced gender ratio makes it more difficult for men to find a partner. Some people are reluctant to introduce a partner because the success rate is too low.

Since the 1980s, there has been a high proportion of boys in children born every year in China. As they gradually enter marriage and childbearing age, there has indeed been a phenomenon that men encounter fierce competition in the marriage market and even can’t find a spouse.

However, the distribution of this phenomenon is uneven. This phenomenon is not obvious in large cities due to the supplementary effect of the incoming population, but it will be more prominent in some rural areas, remote areas, and areas with a low level of economic development.

There are differences in the gender ratio of the marriageable population between urban and rural areas.

The gender ratio of the marriageable population in big cities tends to be feminine, resulting in the phenomenon of “older leftover women”; the gender ratio of the marriageable population in the vast rural areas, especially in remote areas, tends to be masculine, resulting in the problem of “grass-roots singles”.

Gender composition should be divided into age groups. From the main marriage and childbearing age group of 20 to 40, there are more than 17 million men than women, not more than 30 million, according to NBS.

Guangdong is the province with the highest proportion of men, accounting for 53.07% of the male population and 46.93% of the female population, with a gender ratio of 113.08. Followed by Hainan, the proportion of the male population is 53.02%, the female population is 46.98%, and the gender ratio is 112.86.

The three northeastern provinces are the most balanced. Among them, Jilin and Liaoning are the only provinces in China where the female population exceeds the male population.

7 Major Consumer Segments Shaping Chinese Market Landscape

The birth rate was 10.48 ‰, the lowest since 2000.

With the opening of “single two children” policy (the married couple must both be the only child in each family) in 2014 and “comprehensive two children” in 2016, China’s birth rate ushered in a wave of slight increase, reaching 12.95 ‰ in 2016, the highest in recent years.

It continued to decline, not reaching the expected level, which decreased by 2.47 ‰ four years ago.

Among the 31 provinces and cities in the mainland, there are 11 provinces with a birth rate of more than 12 ‰ and 5 provinces with a birth rate of more than 13 ‰, which are respectively 14.60 ‰ in Tibet, 13.72 ‰ in Ningxia, 13.66 ‰ in Qinghai, 13.65 ‰ in Guizhou, and 13.31 ‰ in Guangxi.

There are 12 provinces with lower birth rates than the national average, which are Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Hunan, and Chongqing.

Among them, the birth rate of three provinces in Northeast China was the lowest, with Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning being 5.73 ‰, 6.05 ‰, and 6.45 ‰ respectively.

In 2014, the permanent resident population of Heilongjiang Province was 38.33 million, which was 20,000 less than that of the previous year. It took the lead in a downward trend in Northeast China, followed by Liaoning Province in 2015 and Jilin Province in 2016.

By the end of 2019, the number of permanent residents in the three northeast provinces has decreased by 1.8255 million compared with 2013.

Gen-Z Insights: capturing attention of China’s post-95s consumers

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%.

Top 10 forecast of China digital innovation in 2021-2025

1. Digitalization

COVID-19 has also accelerated digitization of the traditionally less digitized part of the Chinese economy, such as areas requiring physical interactions, and B2B.

Before COVID-19, China was already a digital leader in consumer-facing areas— accounting for 45 percent of global e-commerce transactions while mobile payments penetration was three times higher than that of the US, according to McKinsey.

Based on McKinsey’s mobile surveys of Chinese consumers, about 55 percent are likely to continue buying more groceries online after the peak of the crisis.

Nike’s first-quarter digital sales in China increased 30% yoy after the company launched home workouts via its mobile app while real estate platform Beike said agent-facilitated property viewings on its virtual reality showroom in February increased by almost 35 times compared with the previous month.

2. Declining global exposure

20% of companies surveyed by AmCham China believe COVID-19 may accelerate “decoupling”.

A paper published in February by the European Union Chamber of Commerce highlighted how diversification is now at the top of the agenda for many European companies in China. Global trade and investment has slowed sharply, and the movement of people has become highly restricted.

3. Rising competitive intensity

In China, the top decile of companies capture about 90% of total economic profit, while the ratio is about 70% for the rest of the world, according to McKinsey’s analysis of the world’s top 5,000 companies.

Alibaba’s Freshippo supermarkets surmounted supply constraints and met soaring online orders for fruit. Foxconn’s agility allowed it to switch factory operations to mask production, protecting employees, and enabling the resumption of production earlier than competitors.

4. Consumers come of age

China’s affluent younger generation had never experienced a domestic economic downturn prior to COVID-19. The virus has forced them to think harder about spending, saving, and trade-offs in purchasing behavior.

One survey showed 42% of young consumers intend to save more as a result of the virus. Consumer lending has also declined, while four out of five Chinese consumers intend to purchase more insurance products post-crisis.

China’s post-90s start personal finance management 10 years earlier than their parents

5. Private and social sectors step up

According to McKinsey, the private sector and leading technology companies are playing a more significant role, making large socioeconomic contributions amid the emergence of powerful social institutions that have donated millions to recovery efforts.

CIW Annual Subscribers can download the 158-page report here. 

Globally, the key benefits of 5G other than speed gains (e.g. network slicing, edge computing, and low-latency services) are not widely appreciated, with many companies believing 4G is ‘good enough’.

But China is a clear exception. Early partnerships and trials from local operators have paid dividends, as evidenced by the widespread intent among companies in the country’s industrial sector to utilize 5G.

Chinese operators are also leading the charge for standalone (SA) 5G, which will help deliver the key benefits of 5G for enterprises.

Awareness and knowledge of 5G are rising as hype makes way for reality.

Chinese consumers are among the most excited by the prospect of 5G. They are generally more optimistic than other markets about the benefits of 5G, with greater expectations of lower service costs, innovative services and new connected devices.

In addition, consumers in China are likely earlier adopters of 5G (versus the US, Japan, and Europe) and seem the most willing to pay more for 5G services – a key driver of potential 5G consumer revenue uplift.

4G is by far the dominant mobile technology across China, accounting for more than 80% of total connections (excluding licensed cellular IoT). However, 4G’s share will peak in 2020 (at 82%) as 5G grows significantly.

Several 5G smartphones have been launched, many by local OEMs, and Chinese consumers are among the most keen to upgrade to 5G.

As a result, China will account for 70% of global 5G connections in 2020, and 5G adoption will grow to just under 50% by 2025, placing the country among the leading nations along with South Korea, Japan and the US.

To support this generational shift and drive consumer engagement, Chinese operators are expected to invest more than $180 billion between 2020 and 2025 in mobile capex, roughly 90% of which will be on 5G networks.

Despite some financial headwinds – including market saturation, increasing competition and the country’s ‘speed upgrade and tariff reduction’ policy – China’s mobile revenue remains stable.

Financials will recover in 2020 and 2021, and revenue will rise steadily at around 1% per year to 2025, largely because of growing revenues in enterprise IoT and new 5G services.

By the end of 2019, 1.2 billion people subscribed to mobile services across China.

This accounts for 82% of the region’s population and places China among the world’s most developed markets. As with all advanced markets, adding new subscribers is increasingly difficult, with the cost of reaching rural populations hard to justify against a challenging financial backdrop for operators.

Despite this, there will be around 60 million new subscribers by 2025.

Since 2012, the number of people subscribing to the mobile internet across China has doubled to more than 900 million. By 2025, nearly 260 million people will start using the mobile internet for the very first time, almost halving the unconnected proportion of the population to 22%.

Mobile continues to make a significant contribution to the Chinese economy.

In 2019, mobile technologies and services generated $759 billion of economic value added (5.4% of GDP) across China. This figure will surpass $900 billion by 2024 as the region increasingly benefits from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased take-up of mobile services.

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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

The Index is based on 10 indicators and presents the sum of four individual rankings, comprising:

• enterprise activity
• research proficiency
• infrastructure readiness, and
• government engagement

The Intelligent Cities Index China (ICI-CN) reveals six main clusters of leading cities in AI. The Top 6 Intelligent cities are all located in the East Coast Region. Each of the other three economic regions comprises at least one Top 10 intelligent city.

Beijing is the Intelligent Capital, a leader in research and enterprise activity. The East Coast Challengers Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou are allrounders with strengths across all categories of the ICI.

The Giants of the South Coast, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, are leading centers of government AI engagement and have strong enterprise sectors.

The Rising Centre comprises Wuhan, an up and coming city with strengths in AI research and enabling infrastructure. The Industrial Northeast, Harbin and Shenyang are known for strong AI research.

The Developing West comprises Xi’an and Chengdu, two cities with developing research strengths and favorable policy conditions for attracting AI talent.

The Top 10 Intelligent Cities Ranking presents the aggregate result of the four individual rankings, weighed according to the Intelligent Cities Capabilities Pyramid: Enterprise activity 40%, Research proficiency 30%, Infrastructure readiness 20% and Government engagement 10%.

• 1. Beijing
• 2. Shanghai
• 3. Nanjing
• 4. Guangzhou
• 5. Shenzhen
• 6. Hangzhou
• 7. Wuhan
• 8. Haerbin
• 9. Xi’an
• 10. Chengdu
• 10. Shenyang

The research distinguished Chinese cities into six clusters with distinct profiles and correspond to the major economic regions of China and reflect the historical development of the country. Reflecting the economic profile of the country, three of the six clusters and the Top 6 cities are located in the East Coast region.

CIW Members can download the report here.

This year, the total operating revenues of the 500 listed Chinese companies reached 50.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 11% over the previous year; and the net profit reached 4.2 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 16% compared with last year.

The annual revenue threshold of listed Chinese companies on Fortune 500 list this year is close to 17.8 billion yuan, which is nearly 10% higher than that of last year. Last year, China’s GDP exceeded 99 trillion yuan, which means that the total income of the 500 listed companies on the list is still more than half of China’s GDP in that year.

The top three companies in this year’s Fortune 500 list have not changed, with Sinopec, PetroChina and China State Construction Engineering (CSCEC).

Ping An Insurance of China ranks fourth and still ranks first among non-state-owned enterprises. Jingdong (JD.com) and Alibaba, two “Internet service and retail” enterprises, both ranked higher. Among them, JD rose to 13th place and Alibaba ranked 18th.

From the industry point of view, with the gradual profitability of some top Internet service companies, the net profit created by the industry on the list increased by more than 300% year-on-year.

2019 is the first year of “new infrastructure”, but because of its relatively low absolute proportion in fixed assets investment, “old infrastructure” still plays an indispensable role.

The total revenue of infrastructure, construction, power, construction machinery, port and logistics related industries in the Fortune 500 list of China’s “traditional infrastructure” reached 8.6 trillion yuan, 17.7% higher than the previous year’s 7.4 trillion yuan. This industry is still one of the important pillars of stable economic growth.

This year, there are 39 new and re-listed companies on Fortune China 500, of which Pinduoduo is on the list for the first time and ranks 321st with total revenue of 30.1 billion yuan.

Another new company worth mentioning in the Internet field is Joyy. This company, which mainly deals in live game broadcasting, is also on the list for the first time, and ranks 359th on the list with revenue of about 25.6 billion yuan.

In addition, the newly listed companies also include Grandjoy Holdings Group, which is engaged in real estate investment and management, and the “king of smartphones in Africa” Transsion.

In terms of profitability, the situation is the same as the previous year. In addition to several major commercial banks and insurance companies, the top 10 companies by net income are still Alibaba Group Holding Co., Ltd., China Mobile Co., Ltd. and Tencent Holding Co., Ltd.

The total profits of the ten companies last year were about 1.7 trillion yuan, nearly 40% of the total profits of the top 500 companies.

In 2019, 15 listed companies in Fortune 500 failed to make profits, with a total loss of about 80.7 billion yuan. Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd. ranks first in the loss list, with a loss of more than 45.8 billion yuan. iQiyi, the second-largest-loss company, lost 10.3 billion yuan.

Pinduoduo, which competes for users in the first and second-tier cities with low commodity prices, has a loss of more than 6.9 billion yuan in 2019, ranking third in the loss list.

Among all the listed companies, the real estate industry accounts for 4 of the top 10 companies with the highest ROE. Among them, Yanlord Land Group Co., Ltd. has an ROE of 43.5%. Netease was second by ROE. The agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and food and beverage industries have three seats in the Top Companies by ROE list, which are:

• Foshan Haitian seasoning Food Co., Ltd.
• Wenshi Food Group Co., Ltd.
• Guizhou Maotai Liquor Co., Ltd.

If you have CIW Premium subscription, visit this page for the full data including Chinese company name, revenues, and net income to copy or download in your preferred format.

Top 500 Companies in China

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.

Manufacturing PMI

In April 2020, China’s manufacturing PMI was 50.8%, down by 1.2 percentage points from the previous month according to National Bureau of Statistics of China.

The PMI of large and medium was 51.1% and 50.2% respectively, down 1.5 and 1.3 percentage points; small enterprises PMI was 51.0%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that of last month.

The five sub-indices composing PMI, the production index, new orders index, employment index, and supplier distribution time index were all above the threshold while the main raw materials inventory index stayed below the threshold.

• Production index was 53.7%, down by 0.4 percentage point from last month but still above 50.0%, indicating that the manufacturing production continually increased month on month.
• New orders index was 50.2%, down by 1.8 percentage points from last month, indicating that the growth rate of manufacturing market demand narrowed on a month on month basis.
• Main raw materials inventory index was 48.2%, lower 0.8 percentage point than last month, indicating that the pace of decline of main raw material inventory in the manufacturing industry had enlarged.
• The employment index was 50.2%, dropped by 0.7 percentage point than last month but still higher than the threshold, indicating that the number of manufacturing enterprises returning to work had increased continually.
• Supplier distribution time index was 50.1%, rose by 1.9 percentage points than last month, indicating that the delivery time of raw material suppliers in the manufacturing industry was faster than last month.

Non-manufacturing PMI

In April 2020, China’s non-manufacturing business activities index was 53.2%, up by 0.9 percentage point than the previous month.

The construction business activity index was 59.7%, up by 4.6 percentage points. The service business activity index was 52.1%, up by 0.3 percentage point from last month.

The business activity index of the retail industry, catering industry, information transmission software, and information technology service was more than 55.0% while that of the accommodation industry, culture, sports and entertainment industry, and residential service industry was less than 45.0%.

The new orders index was 52.1%, up by 2.9 percentage points from the previous month. The new order index of construction industry was 53.2%, up by 4.8 percentage points over last month; that of service industry was 51.9%, which rose by 2.6 percentage points from March 2020.

The input price index was 49.0%, 0.4 percentage point lower than that of last month and still stayed below the threshold, indicating that the overall input price used by non-manufacturing enterprises for business activities was continually decreasing.

The construction industry input price index was 49.3%, 3.2 percentage points lower than the previous month; the service industry input price index was 48.9%, unchanged over March.

The sales price index was 45.4%, down by 0.7 percentage point, indicating that the overall decline of sales price of non-manufacturing industry had enlarged.

The sales price index of the construction industry was 50.2%, down by 2.3 percentage points from last month; the sales price index of the service industry was 44.6%, down by 0.3 percentage point from last month.

The employment index was 48.6%, up by 0.9 percentage point from the previous month. In terms of industry, the employment index of the construction industry was 57.1%, up by 4.0 percentage points from last month; that of service industry was 47.1%, rose by 0.4 percentage point from last month.

Business activities expectation index was 60.1%, higher 2.8 percentage points than last month. The business activities expectation index in construction industry was 65.4%, 5.5 percentage points higher; that of service industry was 59.2%, 2.4 percentage points higher than last month.

In April 2020, the comprehensive PMI output index was 53.4%, 0.4 percentage point higher than that of March 2020.

Weak demand has prompted manufacturers to reduce their payrolls at a faster pace in April, according to a Caixin survey showed, while companies slashed their selling prices for the third straight month. The contraction seen in the Caixin survey was worse than China’s official factory PMI.

Only China saw any output growth in April, and even here the rise was muted due to falling demand, notably for exports. All other countries saw output trends deteriorate, with record rates of decline recorded in 26 of the 32 countries surveyed by IHS Markit.

These coupons are for all people in Wuhan. WeChat real-name verified users can enter the corresponding mini program to collect the coupon.

At the same time, there are 1.8 billion yuan (US$254.63 million) worth of business coupons issued by online platforms. The first phase started at 12:00 p.m. on April 19 and will last for six weeks until May 31 2020. And, the second phase will start on 1 June 2020.

One coupon can be collected at a time, with a face value of 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, and 80 yuan. The first phase will have 30 million yuan coupons, redeemable from 20th April onwards.

The Wuhan consumption voucher received by consumers through the WeChat mini program is applicable to the merchants who use WeChat merchant payment settlement. However, merchants who use the personal WeChat payment code, will not accept those vouchers.

According to Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the city’s fifth round of e-consumption coupons was issued at 8pm of 20 April, with a total of 1.5 million digital card packages. Each has a total value of 50 yuan, including 5 general consumption coupons with a value of 10 yuan each and 10 yuan further subsidy for every 40 yuan consumption.

As of 24:00 on April 16, 321 million yuan (US$45.41 mn) of Hangzhou government subsidies had been claimed in the first four rounds of coupon campaigns driving a total consumption of 3.422 billion yuan (US$484.05 bn).

As of 20 April 2020, cities in Guangdong province have issued 1 billion yuan worth of e-coupons.

Update (5 Jun): Since the worst of the Covid-19 outbreak in China, the country has issued over RMB5.6 billion ($788 million) in such incentives.

China GDP declined by 6.8% in Q1 2020

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%.

In 2019, GDP in China’s eastern areas was 51,116.1 billion yuan, an increase of 6.2% compared with the previous year; the central areas, 21,873.8 billion yuan, up by 7.3%; the western areas, 20,518.5 billion yuan, up by 6.7%; and the northeastern areas, 5,024.9 billion yuan, up by 4.5%.

In 2019, the GDP in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region reached 8,458.0 billion yuan, up by 6.1% over the previous year; that in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, 45,780.5 billion yuan, up by 6.9%; and that in the Yangtze River Delta, 23,725.3 billion yuan, up by 6.4%.

The value added of the primary industry was 7,046.7 billion yuan accounting for 7.1% of total GDP, up by 3.1%; the secondary industry was 38,616.5 billion yuan (39% of total GDP), up by 5.7%; and, the tertiary industry was 53,423.3 billion yuan (53.9%), up by 6.9%.

The contribution of the final consumption expenditure to GDP was 57.8%, that of the gross capital formation 31.2 percent and that of the net exports of goods and services 11.0 percent.

The per capita GDP in 2019 was 70,892 yuan, up by 5.7% compared with the previous year. The gross national income in 2019 was 98,845.8 billion yuan, up by 6.2% over the previous year.

CIW Premium subscribers can download the Dossier: China’s Economy in 2019

The national energy consumption per 10,000 yuan worth of GDP went down by 2.6 percent over 2018, and the overall labor productivity reached 115,009 yuan per person in 2019, up by 6.2% over the previous year.

By the end of 2019, the total number of Chinese population at the mainland reached 1,400.05 million, an increase of 4.67 million over that at the end of 2018. Of this total, urban permanent residents totaled 848.43 million, accounting for 60.60% of the total population (the urbanization rate of permanent residents), 1.02 percentage points higher than 2018.

The urbanization rate of the population with household registration was 44.38%, 1.01 percentage points higher than 2018. The year 2019 saw 14.65 million births, a crude birth rate of 10.48 per thousand, and 9.98 million deaths, a crude death rate of 7.14 per thousand.

The natural growth rate was 3.34 per thousand. The population who lived in places other than their household registration areas reached 280 million, of which 236 million were floating population.

At the end of 2019, the number of employed people in China was 774.71 million, and that in urban areas was 442.47 million, accounting for 57.1%, 1.1 percentage points higher than the end of 2018.

The newly increased employed people in urban areas reached 13.52 million, 90 thousand less than the previous year. The surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2% at the year end, and the registered urban unemployment rate was 3.6%.

The total number of migrant workers in 2019 was 290.77 million, up by 0.8% over that of 2018. Specifically, the number of migrant workers who left their hometowns and worked in other places was 174.25 million, up by 0.9%, and those who worked in their own localities reached 116.52 million, up by 0.7%.

The consumer prices in 2019 went up by 2.9% over the previous year. The producer prices for industrial products went down by 0.3% and the purchasing prices for industrial producers down by 0.7 percent. The prices for investment in fixed assets increased by 2.6 percent. The producer prices for farm products increased by 14.5%.

In December 2019, out of the 70 large-and-medium-sized cities, 68 cities experienced a year-on-year rise in sales prices of new commercial residential buildings and two cities experienced a decline.

At the end of 2019, China’s foreign exchange reserves reached US$3,107.9 billion, an increase of US$35.2 billion compared with 2018. The average exchange rate of the year was 6.8985 RMB to 1 USD dollar, depreciated by 4.1% over that of 2018.

By the rural poverty line of annual per capita income of 2,300 yuan (at 2010 constant prices), the rural population living in poverty at the end of 2019 was 5.51 million, 11.09 million less compared with that at the end of 2018, and the incidence of poverty was 0.6 percent, 1.1 percentage points lower than that of the previous year.

In 2019, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in impoverished areas was 11,567 yuan, an increase of 11.5% over 2018, or a real increase of 8.0% after deducting price factors.

Industry and Construction

In 2019, the total value added of the industrial sector was 31,710.9 billion yuan, up by 5.7% over the previous year. The value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 5.7 percent.

Of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, in terms of ownership, the value added of the state-holding enterprises grew by 4.8%, that of the share-holding enterprises up by 6.8%, that of the enterprises funded by foreign investors and investors from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan up by 2.0% and that of private enterprises up by 7.7%.

In terms of sectors, the value added of the mining industry was up by 5.0 percent, that of manufacturing up by 6.0 percent and that of production and supply of electricity, heat power, gas and water up by 7.0 percent.

In 2019, of the industrial enterprises above the designated size, the value added for processing of food from agricultural and sideline products was up by 1.9 percent over the previous year;

• for textile industry up by 1.3 percent;
• for manufacture of raw chemical materials and chemical products up by 4.7 percent;
• for manufacture of non-metallic mineral products up by 8.9 percent;
• for smelting and pressing of ferrous metals up by 9.9 percent;
• for manufacture of general purpose machinery up by 4.3 percent;
• for manufacture of special purpose machinery up by 6.9 percent;
• for manufacture of automobiles up by 1.8 percent;
• for manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus up by 10.7 percent;
• for manufacture of computers, communication equipment and other electronic equipment up by 9.3 percent;
• for production and supply of electricity and heat power up by 6.5 percent

In 2019, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size were 6,199.6 billion yuan, down by 3.3 percent over the previous year.

By ownership, the profits of state-holding enterprises were 1,635.6 billion yuan, down by 12.0 percent over the previous year; those of share-holding enterprises were 4,528.4 billion yuan, down by 2.9 percent; those of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were 1,558.0 billion yuan, down by 3.6 percent; and those of private enterprises were 1,818.2 billion yuan, up by 2.2 percent.

In terms of different sectors, the profits of mining were 527.5 billion yuan, up by 1.7 percent over the previous year; those of manufacturing were 5,190.4 billion yuan, down by 5.2 percent; and those of the production and supply of electricity, heat power, gas and water were 481.6 billion yuan, up by 15.4 percent. In 2019, the cost for per-hundred-yuan business revenue of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 84.08 yuan, or 0.18 yuan more than that of 2018; the profit rate of the business revenue was 5.86 percent, down by 0.43 percentage points.

In 2019, the value added of construction enterprises in China was 7,090.4 billion yuan, up by 5.6 percent over the previous year. The profits made by construction enterprises qualified for general contracts and specialized contracts reached 838.1 billion yuan, up by 5.1 percent over the previous year, of which the profits made by state-holding enterprises were 258.5 billion yuan, up by 14.5 percent.

Service Sector

In 2019, the value added of the wholesale and retail trades was 9,584.6 billion yuan, up by 5.7 percent over the previous year; that of transport, storage and post was 4,280.2 billion yuan, up by 7.1 percent; that of hotels and catering services was 1,804.0 billion yuan, up by 6.3 percent; that of financial intermediation was 7,707.7 billion yuan, up by 7.2 percent; that of real estate was 6,963.1 billion yuan, up by 3.0 percent; that of information transmission, software and information technology services was 3,269.0 billion yuan, up by 18.7 percent; and that of leasing and business services was 3,293.3 billion yuan, up by 8.7 percent.

In 2019, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size grew by 9.4 percent over the previous year, and the operating profits grew by 5.4 percent.

The turnover of telecommunication services totaled 10,678.9 billion yuan, up by 62.9 percent over the previous year.

By the end of 2019, there were 1,792.38 million phone subscribers in China, 1,601.34 million of which were mobile phone subscribers. Mobile phone coverage rose to 114.4 sets per 100 persons.

The number of fixed broadband internet users reached 449.28 million, an increase of 41.90 million over the end of the previous year. Of this total, fixed fiber-optic broadband internet users amounted to 417.40 million, an increase of 49.07 million.

The mobile internet traffic in 2019 was 122.0 billion gigabytes, up by 71.6 percent over the previous year. Software revenue from software and information technology services industry in 2019 was 7,176.8 billion yuan, up by 15.4 percent over 2018.

China retail in 2019

Investment in Fixed Assets

The total investment in fixed assets of the country in 2019 was 56,087.4 billion yuan, up by 5.1 percent over the previous year.

Of the total, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) was 55,147.8 billion yuan, up by 5.4 percent. By regions, the investment in eastern areas was up by 4.1 percent over the previous year, central areas up by 9.5 percent, western areas up by 5.6 percent, and northeastern areas down by 3.0 percent.

In 2019, the investment in real estate development was 13,219.4 billion yuan, up by 9.9 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the investment in residential buildings reached 9,707.1 billion yuan, an increase of 13.9 percent, that in office buildings was 616.3 billion yuan, up by 2.8 percent, and that in buildings for commercial business was 1,322.6 billion yuan, down by 6.7 percent.

China Import & Export

The total value of imports and exports of goods in 2019 reached 31,550.5 billion yuan, up by 3.4 percent over that of the previous year.

Of this total, the value of goods exported was 17,234.2 billion yuan, up by 5.0 percent; the value of goods imported was 14,316.2 billion yuan, up by 1.6 percent. The surplus of trade in goods reached 2,918.0 billion yuan, up by 593.2 billion yuan over that of the previous year.

The total value of imports and exports between China and countries along the Belt and Road was 9,269.0 billion yuan, an increase of 10.8 percent over that of the previous year. Of the total, the value of goods exported was 5,258.5 billion yuan, an increase of 13.2 percent; that of goods imported was 4,010.5 billion yuan, an increase of 7.9 percent.

Households Income and Consumption

In 2019, the per capita disposable income nationwide was 30,733 yuan, an increase of 8.9 percent over that of the previous year or a real increase of 5.8 percent after deducting price factors.

The median of per capita disposable income nationwide was 26,523 yuan, up by 9.0 percent.

In terms of usual residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 42,359 yuan, up by 7.9 percent over that of 2018, or a real growth of 5.0 percent after deducting price factors.

The median of per capita disposable income of urban households was 39,244 yuan, up by 7.8 percent.

The per capita disposable income of rural households was 16,021 yuan, up by 9.6 percent over that of the previous year, or 6.2 percent in real terms after deducting price factors. The median of per capita disposable income of rural households was 14,389 yuan, up by 10.1 percent.

Grouped by income quintile, the per capita disposable income of low-income groups reached 7,380 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 15,777 yuan, the middle-income group 25,035 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 39,230 yuan and the high-income group 76,401 yuan.

The per capita monthly income of migrant workers was 3,962 yuan, increased by 6.5 percent over that of the previous year.

Science & Technology

Expenditures on research and experimental development activities (R&D) were worth 2,173.7 billion yuan in 2019, up by 10.5 percent over that of 2018, accounting for 2.19 percent of GDP.

Download the Dossier: China’s Economy in 2019

Milken‘s ranking index for this 2019 version comprises nine indicators—one-year (2016-2017) and five-year (2012-2017) growth for jobs, wages, and gross regional product (GRP) per capita; three-year (2014-2017) foreign direct investment (FDI) growth; FDI/GRP ratio (2017); and the location quotient (LQ) for high value-added industry employment (2017). This index categorizes Chinese cities into large and small groups to yield more meaningful comparisons and insights.

Best Performing First- and Second-tier Cities in China

1. Chengdu, Sichuan (四川省成都市)
2. Shenzhen, Guangdong (广东省深圳市)
3. Beijing (北京市)
4. Lanzhou, Gansu (甘肃省兰州市)
5. Zhengzhou, Henan (河南省郑州市)
6. Xi’an, Shaanxi (陕西省西安市)
7. Guiyang, Guizhou (贵州省贵阳市)
8. Changchun, Jilin (吉林省长春市)
9. Wuhan, Hubei (湖北省武汉市)
10. Xiamen, Fujian (福建省厦门市)

Chengdu in Sichuan province is ranked the best performing city in 2019. With an established industry base and extensive new high-tech build-up, Chengdu bears the fruit of the successful “western development” strategy the city embarked upon 20 years ago.

Shenzhen in the Guangdong province secures second place in the large cities group, dropping from the top rank last year (2018). Shenzhen has reinvented itself from a low-cost gadget manufacturing center to an innovation powerhouse.

The city is the birthplace of a new generation of telecom products and the tech-entrepreneur hub of China. Most recently, the Chinese government has deeded Shenzhen with the mission of “building a model city” for the world.

Beijing, the capital of China and a leader in developing the Tongzhou district, which will become the home to the Beijing municipal government, capturing the third spot with the support of an inflow of FDI.

Lanzhou, an ancient outpost and a modern gateway city to the West, takes the fourth place. Infrastructure building is driving the regional economy as the One Belt, One Road Initiative extends via there to Central Asia.

Zhengzhou, the central geographic location in Henan province, dropped one spot from 2018, ranking fifth.
This “iPhone City” is not only a production center for the international markets but also a supplier for increasingly affluent Chinese consumers.

Xi’an in Shaanxi province and Guiyang in Guizhou province are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. Both cities are located in the western part of China, with Xi’an in the northwest and Guiyang in the southwest.

Both are experiencing an increase in infrastructure building. While Xi’an is upgrading its industry base and transportation infrastructure, Guiyang is building the next generation of energy supply, transportation, and electronic storage from the ground up.

Changchun has declined two spots from 2018. With the recent slowing of the transportation sector, the city’s automakers may generate less steam powering the city economy, despite healthy demand for high-speed rail carts and engine production.

The ongoing industry restructuring in the northeast will continue to impact the Changchun’s performance.

Wuhan advances seven spots this year. High-tech industries, such as chip-making and biomedicine, continue to add growth potential to the city’s economy.

As a coastal city, Xiamen’s economic development focus is on the integration of air-ground transportation/shipment hubs and related high-tech components.

Best Performing Third-tier Cities in China

1. Dongguan, Guangdong (广东省, 东莞市)
2. Nantong, Jiangsu (江苏省南通市)
3. Zhuhai, Guangdong (广东省珠海市)
4. Taizhou, Jiangsu (江苏省泰州市)
5. Dazhou, Sichuan (四川省达州市)
6. Yingtan, Jiangxi (江西省鹰潭市)
7. Luohe, Henan (河南省漯河市)
8. Anshun, Guizhou (贵州省安顺市)
9. Suzhou, Jiangsu (江苏省苏州市)
10. Maanshan, Anhui (安徽省马鞍山市)

Dongguan in the Guangdong province takes the number one spot for the second year in a row among the small cities group. In fewer than five years, Dongguan has turned from being labeled as the “Ghost Mall” city in 2012 to become a leading robotic production and artificial intelligence (AI) development center.

Nantong’s location has been its most significant asset as the nexus of both a seaport and river port while also connecting the powerhouse Shanghai and the technology center Suzhou. Industrial activities and commercial services are the key pillars of the regional economy.

Zhuhai in the Pearl River Delta cluster ranks third, as the backyard to Asia’s premium gaming center, Macao. Leisure, retirement, and business services industries define this growing city.

Taizhou in the Jiangsu province lands at the fourth spot. The city has been on the top 10 list since the inception of this report series.

Ranked at fifth and sixth are Dazhou in the Sichuan province, and Yingtan in Jiangxi, respectively. It is the first time Dazhou and Yingtan have ranked in the top 10 list. Both cities’ have agriculture- and mining-based economies that are evolving into modern manufacturing and food processing centers. They are both also river transportation hubs in their respective regions.

Luohe in the Henan province ranks at the seventh spot and is the only agricultural-based economy that has appeared on the top 10 ranking twice.

Ranked the eighth is Anshun in the Guizhou province. Both national and local policies and a renewed drive to add technologies into a traditional beverage production elevate its economic performance.

Suzhou in Jiangsu province is placed at the ninth spot. As the first Science and Technology Park joint-venture between the city and the Singaporean government, Suzhou has been the technology powerhouse in the Yangtze River Economic cluster.

Maanshan has emerged from an old steel industry base to become a newer, more diversified manufacturing powerhouse. Its proximity to the city of Nanjing, the capital of the Jiangsu province, provides the
city with strong R&D support.

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.

Views from Global Media

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Alibaba Group has entered into a strategic collaboration with the municipal government of Yiwu in Zhejiang Province to launch an eWTP hub in Yiwu to digitize trade infrastructure and empower new trade flows for the city, which is the world’s largest wholesale market.

Yiwu, in central Zhejiang Province, is the world’s largest wholesale market for daily commodities, attracting more than 500,000 buyers from around the world every year. Yiwu exports goods to more than 200 countries and regions and a majority of the 450,000 merchants in Yiwu are micro-, small- or medium-sized enterprises, a group Alibaba serves through its e-commerce platforms and other digital services.

This collaboration between Alibaba Group and Yiwu will make cross-border e-commerce more accessible to small players in global trade.

The eWTP hub, called the Yiwu eWTP Pilot Area, will build on the success of the eWTP hub established in October 2017 in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang Province.

With the support of the Zhejiang Provincial Government and experience from the Hangzhou eWTP hub, the Yiwu eWTP hub will use technology to promote innovation in trade and trade finance, establish a smart logistics hub and create greater inclusivity for businesses in Yiwu.

“Alibaba Group and Yiwu both have a long history of enabling small businesses to participate in global trade. While Yiwu brings together buyers from around the world, Alibaba’s platforms also bring together millions of merchants and hundreds of millions of consumers. The synergy of the two ecosystems will create value for our communities of users,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group, at the launch ceremony of the Yiwu eWTP Pilot Area.

The Yiwu eWTP Pilot Area is the fifth eWTP hub under the global eWTP initiative following eWTP’s launch in Malaysia in March 2017. Since then, the eWTP project has launched hubs in Hangzhou (China), Belgium and Rwanda, respectively.

Initiated in 2016 by Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, the eWTP is a private sector-led, multi-stakeholder initiative that facilitates public-private dialogue to share best practices, incubate new trade rules and foster a more-integrated and inclusive policy and business environment to promote the development of e-commerce, trade and the digital economy.

The concept of eWTP was accepted as a major policy recommendation of the Business 20 (B20) and officially included in the 2016 G20 Leaders’ Communique.

Introduction to Xiaomi’s e-commerce platform Youpin

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.

Hangzhou surpassed Beijing and Shanghai in terms of GDP per capita. Beijing was the most active city compared with Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. Beijing has invested the most in fixed assets while Shenzhen is the fastest-growing one.

Beijing leads with an index of 127.78 in the ranking of urban consumption vitality in the five select cities. Shanghai (97.07) and Guangzhou (82.58) followed in the second and third places, according to the report from People’s Daily Media Opinion Monitoring Office.

The ranking was measured by a series of indexes including basic GDP per capita, disposable income, retail sales of consumer goods, logistics infrastructure, spending on cultural, healthy, intellectual, and environmentally friendly products, and consumers’ attitudes products, good or bad, etc.

GDP per capita in those five cities are all above 100 thousand yuan (US$14,914), higher than the average level nationwide. Hangzhou surpassed Beijing and Shanghai in terms of that.

The urban consumption vitality will further be released along with the development of the tertiary industry. Empowered by the emerging technology and well-developed tertiary industry, the intelligent production and service system will be able to fulfill customers’ unique needs for individualized and premium products and services. Digitalization and online shopping also promote consumption.

By comparison, Beijing invested the most in fixed assets, such as municipal infrastructure and preparation for sports events, while Shenzhen was the fastest-growing one.

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.

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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%.

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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.

China’s overall image is steadily improving overseas. Countries whose score of China rose the most were all developed countries; awareness of the Belt and Road Initiative rose significantly from three years ago; Chinese food and high-speed railway are most mentioned cultural and high-tech elements.

The 2016-2017 China National Image Global Survey was jointly released on January 5, 2018 by the Academy for Contemporary China-World Studies (former Centre for International Communication Studies under the China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration), Kantar Millward Brown and Lightspeed.

The annual survey, which was the fifth in this series, interviewed citizens of 22 countries, covering Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia), Europe (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Spain and Holland), North America (the US, Canada and Mexico), South America (Brazil, Argentina and Chile), Oceania (Australia) and Africa (South Africa).

With 500 respondents from each country, a total of 11,000 respondents selected from the global panel of Lightspeed Research were included in this survey.

Trying to present a comprehensive view about China, the survey polled the global respondents on China’s overall image and influence, and its images related to politics, diplomacy, economy, culture, science and technology since 2016.

China’s overall image is steadily improving internationally

China scores 6.22 on the 10-point system of its overall image, maintaining a slight upward curve in recent years. Generally, developing countries had better impressions of China than developed countries, but China’s image improved more in developed countries than developing ones. Compared with 2015, the three countries whose score of China rose the most were all developed countries: Italy (up 0.5 points), Canada (up 0.4 points) and the UK (up 0.4 points).

(All charts are based on 10,500 overseas samples unless stated otherwise)

A big oriental country with a rich history, a contributor to global development

A big oriental country with a rich history and full of charm: This was the most impressive image of China in the eyes of overseas respondents (57%), those in developed countries, in particular. Nearly 40% of the overseas respondents recognized China’s contribution to global development, and the figure was nearly 50% in developing countries (48%).

Overseas respondents are optimistic about China’s future development. Those in developed and developing countries both believed that China’s international status and global influence would continue to grow and that China would lead the new round of globalization and contribute more to global governance.

An increasing number of overseas respondents –17% in 2013, 20% in 2014 and 24% in 2015 –thought that China would become the world’s largest economy, and the proportion was 33% in Survey 2016-2017. This showed that the international community had more confidence in China’s economic prospects.

There were still people, 36%, who agreed that China still faces such challenges as economic disparity and environmental pollution.

Belt and Road Initiative is highly praised

In Survey 2014, only 6% of the overseas respondents had heard of both the “Silk Road economic belt” and the “21st century maritime Silk Road”. The ratio rose to 18% in Survey 2016-2017, and was as high as 40% in Indonesia, India and other countries situated along the routes.

Most of the respondents thought that the Initiative is significant to their countries and themselves, to regional and global economy, and to global governance. Those in developing countries and the youth welcomed the Initiative more.

Relatively positive reaction to China’s growing economic influence

China’s economic influence ranks second in the world, next only to the US.

Similar to the previous survey, overseas respondents overall thought that China’s economic development promotes global economic development, that China is willing to cooperate with others in economy and trade, and that their countries have benefited from China’s economic growth. Developing countries’ comments on China’s economic influence were more positive than developed countries.

In the eyes of overseas respondents, Chinese enterprises’ entry and presence brings along new capital and technologies and creates job opportunities to other countries.

Compared with the previous survey, there was a notable drop (-10 percentage points) in the number of people who feared about the negative effect of the Chinese enterprises on the development of local firms and brands.

Traditional brands enjoy higher popularity

Lenovo, Huawei, Alibaba, Air China (up 2 notches) and Bank of China (up 6) are the five most renowned Chinese brands among overseas respondents. Compared with the previous survey, Bank of China, BYD (up 7) and other brands of traditional industries gained in popularity.

Cuisine best represents Chinese culture, high-speed rail most recognized high-tech achievement

Speaking of the elements that best represent Chinese culture, 52% of the overseas respondents chose cuisine, 47% ticked traditional Chinese medicine, and 44% marked off martial arts.

Overseas and Chinese respondents held different views in this regard. Compared with the Chinese themselves, the overseas respondents had a much lower recognition of Confucius and Confucianism (Chinese 62% vs foreign 26%), classics (55% vs 22%), and folk show and acrobatics (36% vs 16%), but had a higher recognition of Chinese products and scientific inventions.

About 59% of the overseas respondents made a positive assessment of China’s technological innovation capacity, and the proportion was as high as 71% in developing countries.

High-speed rail (36%) was China’s best known technological achievement, followed by manned space flight (19%) and the supercomputer (16%).

Interest in visiting China

Of the overseas respondents, nearly 30% planned to study, work or travel in China in the next three years. The proportion was nearly 40% in developing countries, with the top four being Indonesia (60%), Saudi Arabia (52%), India (51%) and Russia (41%).

Beijing (38%), Hong Kong (27%) and Shanghai (25%) were the three most favored Chinese cities among the overseas people. This was generally the same as in the previous survey. More cities were gaining potential visitors, showing an increasing diversity in their destinations.

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Chengdu’s robust performance can be largely attributed to its development of diverse and high value-added industries and encouragement of innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition, it has many universities, colleges, and research institutions that provide an abundance of talent to the local labor market.

Chongqing also has diverse and high value-added industries, a deep talent pool, and lower business costs. In addition, it has a pivotal location at the intersection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the “Silk Road Economic Belt.” All these characteristics contributed to Chongqing’s phenomenal economic performance.

Two other cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt are also ranked among the top 10 first- and second-tier cities: Nanjing (ranked 5th) and Shanghai (ranked 6th). Shenzhen in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is ranked fourth. Guiyang was ranked first last year and stands at third place this year. Nanchang was ranked seventh last year and places ninth this year.

Nantong grabs the top spot this year among third-tier cities, having reached the top 10 in the last two years. Its strong performance can be attributed to its diverse industries, abundant talent pool, and well-connected transportation network. Being part of the Yangtze River Economic Belt also bolsters its competitive advantages.

Taizhou (ranked 6th), Yangzhou (ranked 8th), Yichang (ranked 9th), and Suzhou (ranked 10th) are other cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt entering the top 10 third-tier city index this year. Overall, these cities together with Nantong have shown a more robust and stable economic performance than other cities in the top 10 list. Ji’an was ranked ninth in 2015 and No. 20 in 2016, and bounces back to fourth place this year.

Bengbu (ranked 2nd), Foshan (ranked 3rd), Zunyi (ranked 5th), and Luohe (ranked 7th) are newcomers to the BPC top 10 list among the third-tier cities. The rise of Foshan and Zunyi may be related to the progress made by the regional clusters they belong to. Bengbu and Luohe may have benefited largely from the OBOR initiative. However, these two cities will need to develop more robust industrial bases in order to keep up their growth momentum.

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In the first half of 2017, Shanghai’s export growth has shown an increase of 18.7%. Ever since 2012, it’s the first time that Shanghai showed a double-digit growth.

On 20th July, Shanghai Customs announced the export situation for Shanghai exports. According to data collected, Shanghai has accumulated 1.6 trillion yuan worth of imports and exports between January and June in 2017, taking up 11.8% of China’s import and export, ranked third of all provinces in China, just behind Guangdong and Jiangsu.

Shanghai Customs Deputy Director Zheng Jugang commented that although Shanghai’s monthly growth in imports in the first quarter was lagging behind in the nation, the second quarter recorded numbers that were better than the nation. The import in June displayed an increase of 24.6%, which is 1.5% ahead of China’s average.

The increase in export growth was at 20.2%, with a 14.3% increase as compared to the previous month, putting an end to the trailing behind situation during the previous 3 months, and instead exceeded China’s average by 2.9%.

From the structural analysis, Shanghai’s imports are doing better than exports.

The data for the first half of 2017 shows that Shanghai exports are at 626.59 billion yuan, reflecting a 12% growth and contributes to 8.7% of China’s figures. On the other hand, imports are at 926.71 billion yuan, with 23.7% growth and accounting for 15.6% of the total in China.

According to Zheng, the improvement in imports can be attributed to two factors: firstly, the increase in average prices of the import of items. In the first half of the year, the global economy has shown a rosier outlook, thus bringing the prices of commodities up. Of which, iron ore, unwrought copper and copper items, refined oil and coal have an average increase of 49.4%,32.3%, 30.6% and 82.3% respectively, causing a significant increase in growth of import value.

Secondly, Shanghai is the nation’s largest consumer goods imports distribution center, occupying approximately 30% of China’s total import value of consumer goods. As the top choice of the entry point for foreign distributorship, many items are imported to China through Shanghai before disseminating to the rest of the country, causing the rise of consumer goods imports.

In the first half of the year, Shanghai’s imports of consumer goods stand at 160.55 billion yuan, the growth has leaped from 8.2% to 24.5% when compared to last year’s figures. Of which, automobiles and medical goods have shown significant growth, with imports of 40.93 billion and 39.3 billion yuan respectively, revealing the respective growth of 40.2% and 53.5%.

In addition, Zheng shared that Shanghai’s imports and exports are less reliant on the developed economies of Europe, America and Japan, instead of the growth of imports and exports for countries along the “One Belt One Road” has risen above average.

For the first half of the year, Shanghai’s imports and exports figures for the 3 traditional economies (Europe, America and Japan) stands at a total of 745.06 billion RMB, showing an increase of 17.1%, however the contribution to the city’s total imports and exports value slide from 48.6% to 48% . During the same period, the countries along “One Belt One Road” record 321.43 billion yuan, with an increase of 23.2% and occupies 20.7% of the city’s figures.

On the other hand, from the perspective of the imports and exports industry, foreign invested firms take up the leading role of Shanghai’s imports and exports. The foreign invested firms has an accumulative value of 1 trillion yuan in the first half of 2017, taking up 65% of the city’s import and export value. However, the import and export from private and state-owned firms fare better than foreign-invested firms, with import and export value of 290.72 billion and 248.92 billion RMB respectively, a respective growth of 19.3% and 29.5%, which are higher than the growth by foreign-invested firms by 2.8 and 13%.

However, the performance of Shanghai’s foreign trade import and exports are still weaker than the nation’s average.

In the first half of 2017, the growth of China’s total import and export, export, and import stands at 19.6%, 15% and 25.7% respectively, which are higher than Shanghai’s respective figures by 0.9%, 3%, and 2%.

Zheng shared that the main contributing factors are Shanghai going through transition phase first, the higher costs of manufacturing industries and other major factors.

As the effects of free trade test zone, innovation centers and consumer goods import distributor centers and other factors are opening up, the new competitive advantages of Shanghai are still in development while the traditional competitive advantage is significantly reduced.

During the transition phase, the traditional labour-heavy industries will be undergoing changes in considerations of labor and land requirements, therefore the import and export of foreign trade might show a temporary slowdown in growth. On a special note, the import and export of Shanghai Free Trade Zone take up more than 40% of the city’s import and export.

In the first half of the year, Shanghai Free Trade Zone delivered an import and export value of 6427 billion yuan, an increase of 17.9% and contributes to 41.4% of the city’s total value. Of which, export value is at 1966.8 billion yuan, with a comparative increase of 8.5% and occupies 31.4% of city’s value, while import value at 446.02 billion RMB, a comparative increase of 22.6% and occupies 48.1% of city’s value.

With regards to the push for the development of Shanghai Free Trade Port Area, Zheng revealed that the customs are preparing the regulatory policy for the zone and he believes that the developments will be beneficial for Shanghai’s import and export industry.

Mobile social content sharing insights in China 2017

The Chinese government continued to increase its efforts to combat environmental violations in 2016 with a total number of 137.8 thousand cases investigated and fines totaled 6.633 billion yuan on 124.7 thousand cases, a record high according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The total fines amount increased by 56% while the number of cases punished had an increase of 28%. Guangdong, Beijing, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang each had over 10,000 penalty cases; and, over 20 areas each received total fines of over 100 million yuan.

The implementation of the close-down and seizure saw 9,976 cases, an increase of 138%; the implementation of limited or stopping production had a total of 5,673 cases, an increase of 83%; 4,041 cases were transferred to administrative detention, an increase of 94%; 2,023 criminal cases were transferred for suspected of being involved in environmental pollutions, up 20%.

China GDP grew faster than expected in Q1 2017

China is expected to invest up to twice as much as the US, or US$658 billion (4.5 trillion yuan) in another five years, in the back end of R&D chain, focusing on translating basic and applied research into commercial products and new manufacturing processes according to BCG.

Contributions by the private sector account for 34% of university R&D budgets in China while companies contribute less than 5% in the US. About 38% of published research in China focuses on engineering, comparing with 11% in the US.

Development accounts for 84% of China’s total R&D spending. And, China’s spending on development rose by a compound annual growth rate of around 20% over the past decade, compared with 5% in the US. In 2003, the US spent four times as much as China on development research; in 2013, the two nations spent roughly equal amounts.

China GDP grew faster than expected in Q1 2017

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 “Alibaba economy” could generate about 122 million of the 415 million total jobs available in China’s digital economy or 29.4% of all the jobs in 2035 from today’s 31 million jobs according to BCG.

If Alibaba’s emerging businesses, such as cloud computing and digital entertainment, play a strong future role as well, we can expect another 10 million jobs by 2035—for a total of 122 million jobs.

said BCG.

Currently about 15,000 “Tao Factories” offers smaller-quantity manufacturing to Taobao sellers; 1,300 “Taobao Villages”, centers of e-commerce in China’s rural areas, brings new job opportunities to farmers. And, Alibaba Cloud or Aliyun, has generated 1.2 million jobs at Chinese startups according to BCG.

The digital economy made up 13% of China’s total economy in 2015, accounting for $1.4 trillion in spending; and, it’s going to grow to 48% of the total economy in 2035, accounting for $16 trillion.

Continue to read → Whitepaper: China Internet Statistics 2017

There are 2,397 billionaires in the world, which represents a 3.1% decline in billionaire population in 2016, the first annual decrease since the global financial crisis according to Billionaire Census 2017 by Wealth-X.

The report reveals that 283 individuals (more than 10% of total billionaires) lost their billionaire status in 2016, and 207 new billionaires emerged to join this exclusive wealth tier.

The top 5 countries in the world by the total number of billionaires are the United States, China, Germany, Russia, and the UK.

China has 249 billionaires, a decrease of 4.2%; the total wealth dropped by 0.7% to US$670 billion. And, about 1/3 of Chinese billionaires are under age 50.

Also read: China’s HNWI outbound tourism trends in 2016