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August industrial output jumps 5.6%, retail sales climb
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CHINA’S industrial output accelerated the most in eight months in August, while retail sales grew for the first time this year, suggesting the economic recovery is gathering pace as demand starts to improve more broadly from the coronavirus crisis.
Retail sales of consumer goods, a main gauge of China’s consumption, rose 0.5 percent year on year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The measurement of consumption fell 1.1 percent in July.
Industrial output increased 5.6 percent year on year in August, accelerating from the rise of 4.8 percent registered in July. In the first eight months, industrial output expanded 0.4 percent from one year earlier, compared with a decline of 0.4 percent in the January-July period, NBS data showed.
NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said despite pressures from both the COVID-19 fallout and floods, the country’s economy has sustained a steady recovery. From January to August, the cumulative growth pace of industrial output as well as that of goods exports turned positive for the first time this year, Fu said.
Exports in August rose at a faster-than-expected pace, increasing 11.6 percent year on year, though imports edged down 0.5 percent from one year earlier.
“Industrial output and service production have improved so far in the third quarter compared with that in the second quarter,” Fu said. “If such momentum could be sustained in September, economic growth will accelerate evidently in the third quarter.”
The country’s GDP expanded 3.2 percent year on year in the second quarter, reversing from a contraction of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.
“Strong external demand, a further recovery from the pandemic and pent-up demand from the floods all contributed to the robust activity data in August,” Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, told clients.
Fixed-asset investment edged down 0.3 percent year on year in the first eight months, further narrowing from a fall of 1.6 percent posted in the January-July period.
Private sector fixed-asset investment, which accounts for more than half of total investment, fell 2.8 percent in the January-August period, compared with a decline of 5.7 percent in the first seven months.
In the first eight months, more than 8.67 trillion yuan (US$1.27 trillion) worth of new homes, excluding government-subsidized affordable housing, were sold around China, a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent. This represents the first growth in property sales registered so far for the year to date.
Employment remained stable as the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 5.6 percent in August, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of July.
The rebound in major indicators in August came as the economy extended its recovery, but Fu said the growth of some indicators still lagged behind their 2019 levels.
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