China’s factory output surges 35% amid fast recovery
Shanghai, China, Mar 15 (efe-epa).- China’s industrial production grew more than 35 percent in the first two months of the year, according to official data released Monday.
The solid industrial output growth January and February came after the Chinese production fell by 13.5 percent last year due to the pandemic.
The growth is higher than analysts had expected rise of around 30 percent.
The last time the indicator rose more than 20 percent was in 2012.
The numbers are high, in part, due to the strain from last year’s slump in overall economic activities.
But the National Bureau of Statistics drew the comparison with the first two months of 2019, before the pandemic hit, showing an expansion of 16.9 percent.
Capital Economics, an economic research consultancy, said overseas demand contributed to the strong growth figures.
The consultancy noted that the growth output was also boosted by travel restrictions during the Lunar New Year that discouraged migrant workers from returning to their hometowns.
It effectively meant some factories remained open through the holiday or reopened sooner and remained on for longer than usual.
The recovery of industrial production began in April last year.
December marked the highest reading of 2020, logging a growth of 7.3 percent on-year.
According to data, production rose more in private companies (43.8 percent) than in public firms (23 percent).
Industrial output, officially known as the industry value-added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises which have an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (around $3 million).
Among the three major categories in which the bureau divides the indicator, the data highlights the manufacturing growth of 39.5 percent, followed by industrial production and supply of electricity, gas, heating, and water at 19.8 percent and mining at 17.5 percent.
The bureau also compared data from 41 industrial subsectors, of which 40 saw a spike in activities in November compared with the same month of 2019.
The NBS also made public other indicators of the first quarter and said retail sales increased 33.8 percent from a year earlier in the first two months.
Moreover, investment in fixed assets by 35%, with special prominence for real estate, which in contrast to infrastructure and manufacturing, also grow about two years ago rose. EFE-EPA
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