SCIO press briefing on H1 economic performance
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 15, 2016
5. The decline of imports and exports has slowed and the proportion of general trade grows.
Imports and exports in total reached 11.1335 trillion yuan, down by 3.3 percent year on year in the first half of this year. However, the decline was 3.6 percentage points less than that of the first quarter of this year. Among the total volume, exports reached 6.4027 trillion yuan, down by 2.1 percent, registering a decline 3.6 percentage points less than that of the first quarter. Imports slid 4.7 percent year on year to 4.7307 trillion yuan, a drop 3.7 percentage points less than that of the first quarter of this year. The transaction of imports and exports resulted in a trade surplus of 1.6720 trillion yuan.
In June of this year, imports and exports totaled 2.0378 trillion yuan, registering a year-on-year decline of 0.3 percent. Among that, exports grew by 1.3 percent to 1.1745 trillion yuan, while imports saw a drop of 2.3 percent to 863.3 billion yuan.
The structure of trade has improved. In the first half of this year, imports and exports of general trade took up 56.4 percent of the total volume, registering a growth of 1.2 percentage points on a yearly basis. The general trade accounted for 55.7 percent of the exports, a rise of 1.3 percentage points year on year. Exports of electromechanical products topped other sectors by contributing 57.2 percent to overall exports. Exports of privately owned enterprises grew by 3.6 percent and accounted for 46.6 percent of total exports, which enabled the sector to secure the top position in terms of exports volume. The exports to the countries exemplified by Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, India and Egypt along the routes of "Belt and Road" Initiative respectively grew by 22.5 percent, 16.6 percent, 9.0 percent, 7.8 percent and 4.7 percent. Imports of some bulk commodities, such as, iron ores, crude oil, coals and coppers kept growing by 9.1 percent to 494 million tons, 14.2 percent to 187 million tons, 8.2 percent to 108 million and 22 percent to 2.74 million tons, respectively, in the first half of this year.
6. Consumer prices grew mildly and the fall of Industrial Product Price slowed on a yearly basis.
In the first half of this year, consumer prices went up 2.1 percent year on year, drawing even to the growth rate of the earliest quarter of this year. Specifically, prices of either cities or rural areas rose by 2.1 percent. Grouped in commodity categories, prices for foods, tobacco and liquor grew by 5.0 percent, clothing was up 1.6 percent, accommodations were 1.4 percent higher, daily necessities and services rose by 0.5 percent, transportation and communication had a 2.1 percent decline, recreation, education, and cultural goods and services grew by 1.3 percent, health care was up 3.2 percent and other commodities and services had a growth of 1.4 percent. In the food, tobacco and liquor sector, prices of grains rose by 0.6 percent, pork soared 28.2 percent and fresh vegetables were up 18.2 percent.
In June of this year, consumer prices grew by 1.9 percent year on year while falling 0.1 percent month on month. In the first half of this year, PPI dropped by 3.9 percent year on year; however, the decline was 0.9 percentage points lower than that of the first quarter of this year. In June, PPI were down by 2.6 percent year on year, or 0.2 percent month on month. At the same time, purchasing prices for industrial producers plummeted by 4.8 percent year on year. And in June, it slid by 3.4 percent year on year and up 0.2 percent month on month.
7. Residents' income maintains stable growth and migrant workers' incomes keep growing.
In the first of half this year, the average disposable income of residents reached 11,886 yuan, registering a nominal growth of 8.7 percent and actual growth of 6.5 percent regardless of price factors on a yearly basis. In view of permanent residences, the average disposable income of urban residents reached 16,957 yuan, up 8.0 percent nominally and 5.8 percent regardless of the price factors year on year. At the same time, the average disposable incomes of rural residents rose to 6,050 yuan, registering a nominal growth of 8.9 percent and actual growth of 6.7 percent regardless of price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.8 times that of rural households, and the figure is 0.03 less than that of the same period last year. The median disposable income reached 10,505 yuan, registering a nominal growth of 8.3 percent. By the end of the second quarter this year, the farmer-turned-migrant-labor force climbed by 0.4 percent to 175.09 million, an increase of 730,000 people year on year. The average monthly per capita income of migrant labors reached 3,202 yuan, up 6.7 percent year on year.
8. The economic structures were improved and upgraded.
The industrial structure continued to be improved and upgraded. In the first half of the year, the value added in tertiary industries accounted for 54.1 percent of the GDP, 1.8 percentage points higher than the same period during last year, and 14.7 percentage points higher than the secondary industries this year. The composition of demand was further improved. The final consumption expenditure contributed 73.4 percent to the GDP in the first half of this year, about 13.2 percentage points higher than the same period during last year. The central and western regions maintained stronger development momentum. The value added of the industries above the designated size in the central and western regions grew by 7.3 percent and 7.2 percent respectively, higher than the eastern region by 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points. Investments on fixed assets without those from rural households grew by 12.8 percent and 13.5 percent in the central region and western region, 1.8 percentage points and 2.5 percentage points higher than the growth of the eastern region. Further progress was made in energy saving. The energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased 5.2 percent year on year.
Preliminary achievements have been made in cutting industrial overcapacity, destocking, de-leveraging, lowering costs and improving weak links. In the first half of this year, the output of crude coal and steel decreased 9.7 percent and 1.1 percent year on year. Positive results were seen in the destocking of industrial enterprises and the commercial housing market. At the end of May, the stock of finished products of industrial enterprises above a designated size dropped 1.1 percent year on year. From March to June, the area of unsold commercial buildings decreased for four consecutive months. Drops were seen in both the debt to assets ratio and the cost of industrial enterprises above a designated size. At the end of May, the debt to assets ratio for industrial enterprises above a designated size lowered to 56.8 percent, down by 0.5 percent year on year. In the first five months, the cost per 100 yuan of main business revenues for industrial enterprises above a designated size dropped 0.22 yuan year on year. Investment in weaker sectors enjoyed fast growth. In the first half of this year, investment in the water conservation, environmental protection and public facility management sectors, as well as investment in the information transfer, software and information service sectors grew 26.7 percent and 22.5 percent respectively, 17.7 percentage points and 13.5 percentage points higher than the total.
On the whole, in the first half of this year, with the deepening of reform and innovation, as the macroeconomic policies continued to take effect, national economic growth remained stable and achieved positive progress, paving the way for us to fulfill our annual economic goals. However, we should also be aware of the complicated domestic and international environment, as well as downward economic pressure. For the next step, we must firmly follow the decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council. We should remain confident and vigorous. We will focus on development as the top priority and promote steady progress. While appropriately expanding the aggregate demand, we will steadfastly advance supply-side structural reforms, build new economic structures and foster new drivers of economic growth, thus promoting a sustainable and healthy development of the national economy.
That's all regarding the national economic performance of the first half of the year. Now, I'm ready to answer questions.
Xi Yanchun:
Thank you for the introduction, Mr. Sheng Laiyun. Now let's open the floor for questions and I humbly remind you to identify your media outlets before asking questions.
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