China's Industry Surges 16.2 Percent in First Half of Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 17, 2003

China's Industry Surges 16.2 Percent in First Half of Year

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The first half of 2003 witnessed a 16.2 percent surge in China's industrial output, marking the greatest economic efficiency in history, despite the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Ma Liqiang, director of the Bureau of Economic Operations of the State Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference Thursday that the value added output from large Chineseindustrial enterprises in the first half of the year totaled 1.8 trillion yuan (about 221.9 billion US dollars), up 4.5 percentage points year-on-year.

Industrial export volume rose 29.4 percent year-on-year, while the composite index of industrial economic performance surged 16.74 percentage points, said Ma.

During the first five months of this year, the combined profitsof industrial enterprises amounted to 291.8 billion yuan (about 35.3 billion US dollars), 6.28 percent higher than last year's figure,with the profits of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises surging 89.9 percent.

Ma said all twelve major industries maintained rapid growth in the first half of the year, and ten of them, with the notable exceptions of coal and tobacco, exceeded last year's performances.

Investment in raw materials and the equipment manufacturing industry play a leading role in China's economic development, saidMa, adding that the metallurgy, building materials, nonferrous metals and petroleum industries have contributed 47.9 percent to China's total industrial growth.

Petroleum industry profits have even increased several hundred percent due to surging international oil prices, said Ma.

According to Ma, the production of raw materials such as steel and cement saw rapid growth in the first half of the year, as did the coal and power supply sectors.

Technological goods and the electronic equipment industry enjoyed the highest growth rates in comparison with other industries. A case in point is the automobile industry, which made a total of 2.13 million cars, an increase of 32.2 percent, while computer output surged 109 percent.

Ma said the export of China's industrial products also helped boost national foreign trade, especially in electronic equipment, medicines, light industry and textiles.

Despite sharp drops in passenger travel during SARS, cargo transportation in China maintained stable growth, said Ma.

Statistics show that 972 million tons of goods were transportedby train in the first half of the year, a 4.8 percent year-on-yearincrease.

Ma said that the transport volumes of coal, petroleum, steel, ores, crops and cotton also surged.

The volume of goods handled by major Chinese ports increased by16.6 percent to 952 million tons in the first half of the year, indicating 24 percent growth in foreign trade. China's three top shipping enterprises also reported ten percent increases in cargo transport, according to Ma.

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