China's industrial output grows at eight-month high in May

12 June 2009 05:45  [Source: ICIS news]

By Judith Wang

SHANGHAI (ICIS news)--China’s industrial output in May grew at an eight-month high of 8.9% year on year while its retail sales posted a healthy growth of 15.2%, enhancing the view that the country’s economic recovery is well under way.

Heavy industrial output increased at an annual rate of 8.6% last month and made the biggest contribution on overall manufacturing production, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

For the January-to-May period, manufacturing output was up 6.3% year on year, based on official statistics.

“There is no doubt that China’s economic is expanding gradually though the figure fluctuates sometimes on month-on-month basis,” said Guo Shitao, an economist from Liaoning-based brokerage Datong Securities.

Guo was upbeat that the growth momentum last month could be sustained from June onwards.

The textile industry produced 8.3% more in May this compared to the same period a year earlier, while production of chemical raw material and chemical products jumped 11.1% year on year, the data showed.

China's output of coal, a major energy commodity, also grew 9.6% year on year to 250m tonnes in May. Crude oil production, meanwhile, slipped 1.1% year on year to 16.03m tonnes.

Production volumes of automobile rose an impressive 29.0% year on year to 1.15m, with car volumes up 35.0% to 608,000, based on the NBS data.

Meanwhile, China’s retail sales grew strongly to yuan (CNY)1,004bn ($146bn) in May based on NBS’ data.

“Consumption is not easy to be pushed up so the 15% increase is very good/satisfied. The figure also proves a series of measures unveiled by the government are effective,” said Guo.

“China has to try its best to stimulate domestic consumption in the wake of slipping exports,” the analyst said.

($1 = CNY6.84)

Dolly Wu contributed to this article

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Author: Judith Wang
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