Guangzhou (JLC), September 15, 2023 – China's economy continued to improve in August, with the industrial output, service sector, retail sales, fixed-asset investment all registering growth, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
Industrial output grows steadily
China's value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew 4.5% year on year in August, accelerating from 3.7% in July, the NBS data showed.
In breakdown, output from the mining sector increased 2.3% YoY, output from the manufacturing sector grew 5.4%, and output from the electricity, heat, gas and water sector gained 0.2%, the NBS said on September 15.
Notably, output of solar photovoltaic cells and service robots grew 77.8% and 73.7% YoY respectively in August.
In January-August, China's value-added industrial output rose 3.9% YoY, the NBS data showed.
Industrial output is used to measure the activity of enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least CNY20 million (about USD2.79 million).
Meanwhile, the manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 49.7% in August, up from 49.3% in July, the NBS said.
Service sector continues to grow
China's service production index rose 6.8% year on year in August, accelerating from 5.7% in July, data from the NBS showed.
In August, commercial activity index for the service sector stood at 50.5%, above the critical 50%, a line that separates growth from contraction.
Railway and air transport, catering and accommodations, TV broadcasting, satellite transmission services, sports and entertainment were above 55%, indicating high prosperity for these sectors.
In January-August, the service production index gained 8.1% on year.
Retail sector continues to recover
China's retail sales of consumer goods, a key measurement of consumer spending, increased 4.6% YoY to about CNY3.79 trillion in August, the NBS said.
Among them, retail sales of goods stood at CNY3.37 trillion in August, gaining 3.7% YoY, and sales from the catering industry amounted to about CNY0.42 trillion, growing 12.4% YoY, the NBS said.
In January-August, China's retail sales for consumer goods gained 7.3% YoY to CNY30.23 trillion.
Online sales stood at CNY9.54 trillion in January-August, gaining 12.1% on year.
Fixed-asset investment keeps expanding
In January-August, China's fixed-asset investment went up 3.2% YoY to CNY32.70 trillion, the NBS data showed.
In breakdown, fixed-asset investment in infrastructure and manufacturing gained 6.4% and 5.9% YoY respectively.
However, investment in the property sector dropped 8.8% YoY.
Foreign trade sees smaller decline amid better structure
In August, total value of imports and exports of goods (in CNY terms) totaled CNY3.59 trillion, dropping 2.5% YoY, a smaller drop than 8.3% in the previous month, the NBS data showed.
Export value fell 3.2% YoY to CNY2.04 trillion in August, while import value contracted 1.6% YoY to CNY1.55 trillion in the month.
In January-August, total value of imports and exports of goods (in CNY terms) totaled CNY27.08 trillion, a year-on-year decrease of 0.1%.
Export value gained 0.8% YoY to CNY15.47 trillion in January-August, while import value contracted 1.3% to CNY11.62 trillion in these months.
Unemployment rate drops
The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.2% in August, versus 5.3% in July, the NBS data showed.
