On October 27, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) reported the domestic industrial results for the first three quarters of this year.
From the month of June this year, China's domestic industries reversed the trend of economic decline and began to show accelerated production growth, increased profits, rebounded product prices, and new progress in energy conservation.
Industrial output speeded up its growth month on month. In the first three quarters of 2009, the industrial output of major industrial enterprises with annual sales of more than RMB 5 million saw a rise of 8.7 percent. Looking at the various months in turn, industrial output grew by 10.8 percent in July, by 12.3 percent in August, and by 13.9 percent in September.
Profits of enterprises saw a certain improvement. In the January-August period of this year, the aggregate profits of China's major industrial enterprises were down 10.6 percent year on year to RMB 1.6747 trillion, 12.3 percentage points lower compared with the decline rate for the January-May period.
China's producer price index (PPI) has maintained a continuous rise on a month-on-month basis. In September, the PPI declined by seven percent year on year, but rose by 0.6 percent from a month earlier.
A continuous expansion was seen in industrial investment. In the first three quarters of this year, China's industrial investments rose 26.6 percent year on year to RMB 5.57 trillion, with September investment up by 26.4 percent year on year, an increase of 3.3 percentage points month on month.
Positive improvements have been made in energy conservation and in reducing pollutant emissions. In the first eight months of 2009, the comprehensive energy consumption of industrial enterprises with an annual energy consumption of more than 10,000 mt of standard coal dropped 4.51 percent year on year.
The MITT report states that Chinese industries are currently in a critical stage of consolidation and recovery. First of all, despite the signs of recovery observed in some major world economies, China still faces difficult external conditions. Secondly, although industrial output has been on a rising trend for two quarters, the basis of the economic recovery still needs to be consolidated. Thirdly, industries are developing in a positive direction, but the task of carrying forward structural adjustment still needs to be continued.