The economic operation continues to recover and improve, and new momentum grows rapidly
People's Daily, Beijing, June 26. The National Bureau of Statistics released a number of macroeconomic data on the 17th, showing that the national economy continued to recover in May, with stable production growth, continued recovery in demand, overall stability in employment and prices, balanced international payments, steady growth in new quality productivity, and continued transformation and upgrading.
"In May, with the continued release of the effects of macroeconomic policies and the boost from the May Day holiday and the recovery of external demand, the national economy operated generally smoothly and continued its upward trend." Qiao Baohua, chief researcher of industrial economic operations at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said in an interview with reporters that the economy operated generally smoothly in May, with many indicators improving compared with April and new momentum growing rapidly.
Qiao Baohua said that China's economic performance in May had three outstanding highlights:
First, the consumer market is stable and growing. Driven by multiple favorable factors such as the old-for-new policy for consumer goods, the effect of the May Day holiday, and the early start of the "618" promotion, the total retail sales of consumer goods in May increased by 3.7% year-on-year, 1.4 percentage points faster than the previous month. Among them, the retail sales of sports and entertainment products, communication equipment, household appliances and audio-visual equipment in units above the designated size increased by 20.2%, 16.6% and 12.9% year-on-year, respectively, and the growth rates were 7.5, 3.3 and 8.4 percentage points faster than in April.
Second, industrial product prices have gradually improved. Affected by the upward trend of some international bulk commodity prices and the improvement of the supply and demand relationship in the domestic industrial product market, in May, my country's industrial producer price index rose by 0.2% month-on-month, changing the continuous downward trend of the previous 6 months. Among them, the price of means of production rose by 0.4% month-on-month. From a year-on-year perspective, PPI fell by 1.4% year-on-year, narrowing for two consecutive months, and the decline narrowed by 1.1 percentage points from the previous month; among them, the price of means of production fell by 1.6% year-on-year, a decline of 1.5 percentage points from the previous month, and the price of consumer goods fell by 0.8% year-on-year, a decline of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The improvement in the price of means of production was better than that of consumer goods.
Third, the export growth rate continued to pick up. Affected by multiple factors such as the recovery of external demand, the effectiveness of foreign trade stabilization policies, the enhanced export competitiveness of advantageous products, and the low base of the same period last year, exports in May increased by 11.2% year-on-year, 6.1 percentage points faster than the previous month. In the first five months, the export of high-tech and high-value-added electromechanical products, which accounted for nearly 60% of exports, increased by 7.9% year-on-year. Among them, the export of ships, integrated circuits, automobiles, and household appliances increased by 100.1%, 25.5%, 23.8%, and 17.8%, respectively.
China's economy continued to recover in May and delivered a good report card. What are the supporting factors behind this? Which industries and fields performed particularly well?
"With the accelerated advancement of my country's new industrialization, especially the in-depth promotion of high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing, new quality productivity such as high-tech and equipment manufacturing has grown rapidly, which has strongly supported the stable growth of the industrial economy and industrial transformation and upgrading." According to Qiao Baohua's analysis, the economic recovery in May was mainly due to the stable growth of new quality productivity such as equipment manufacturing and high-tech.
Qiao Baohua listed data to support this. In May, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.6% year-on-year and 0.30% month-on-month, maintaining a good growth trend overall, especially the rapid growth of equipment manufacturing industries such as electronics and automobiles. In May, the added value of equipment manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 7.5% year-on-year, driving the growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size by 2.6 percentage points, and contributing 45.7% to the growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size; the proportion of added value of industrial enterprises above designated size has remained above 30% for 15 consecutive months, and has continued to increase since the beginning of the year, highlighting its role as a "ballast stone" for the industrial economy.
In addition, with the rapid development and application of high-tech technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with the gradual cyclical recovery of the electronics industry, the high-tech manufacturing industry maintained rapid growth.
In May, the added value of high-tech manufacturing increased by 10.0% year-on-year, maintaining double-digit growth for two consecutive months, and the growth rate was 4.4% higher than the average level of all industries above designated size. Among them, the electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry maintained double-digit growth for seven consecutive months, and the added value of semiconductor device special equipment manufacturing, integrated circuit manufacturing, and spacecraft and launch vehicle manufacturing increased by 18.7%, 17.3%, and 10.3% respectively.
How was the growth of manufacturing and service industries in May? Are there any positive signs that the industrial structure is being optimized and upgraded?
Qiao Baohua said that in May, production supply increased steadily, and both manufacturing and service industries developed steadily. Among them, the added value of manufacturing increased by 6.0% year-on-year, and the growth rate continued to lead the industrial enterprises above designated size; the service industry production index increased by 4.8% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 1.3 percentage points faster than the previous month.
"With the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and the real economy, the construction of a modern industrial system is accelerating, and the industrial structure is continuously being optimized and upgraded." Qiao Baohua said that the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure can be seen from data in three aspects: production, investment and exports.
From the perspective of production, in the first five months, the added value of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size grew faster than that of all industries above designated size, accounting for 32.8% and 15.5% of all industries above designated size respectively, and the industrial structure continued to optimize.
From the perspective of investment, in the first five months, investment in high-tech manufacturing increased by 10.4% year-on-year, 0.7 percentage points faster than the previous four months, returning to double-digit growth, 0.8 percentage points ahead of the growth rate of all manufacturing investment. Among them, investment in aviation, spacecraft and equipment manufacturing increased by 53.1%, and investment in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing increased by 10.4%.
From the perspective of exports, in the first five months, the export delivery value of equipment manufacturing industries such as railways, ships, aviation, aerospace, and automobiles increased by 23.4% and 19.1% year-on-year respectively, and their proportion in all industrial exports above a certain scale increased compared with the same period last year.
