"Seen from the first half year, the national economy and social development both turned a sound posture and experienced some new progress." Spokesman Han Yongwen, Secretary-General of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said at the press conference of economic operation in industrial and transportation of the past half year on Tuesday.

The industrial structure has sped up its acceleration, and some hot industries have stepped on the track which is in the expectation of macro control. During the first half year, the investment growth in steel fell back to 6.7 percent. That of cement, electrolytic aluminum, coking plant and ferroalloy all depreciated slightly. The production of high added value and technological content has been upgraded. The output values of mechanical and electronic products increased by 29.4 percent and 31.6 percent respectively, the growth pace was apparently quicker than last year.

Economic benefit level advanced steadily, which showed particularly in the climbing amplitude of industrial return and slowdown of deficit of loss-making enterprises. Over the past half year, the scale industrial enterprises realized a profit growth of 18 percent, 8.9 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year. The deficit of loss-making enterprises was reduced by 31.2 percentage points.

The support conditions concerning industries like coal, electric power and railway delivery have been improved greatly, with growth rates of 12.8 percent, 12 percent and 6.3 percent respectively, and the tension of short of their supply has been greatly eased.

The exit structure has also been improved. Export of electromechanical products increased by 30.5 percent, accounting for 56.9 percent of total export, which is 2.3 percentage points higher than last year. The export of products with high technology increased by 32 percent, while the exports of resource products of high energy consumption and pollution kept falling, among which the billet export declined by 35.6 percent.

The boost power by domestic demand had been strengthened. The retail revenue of social consumables increased 12.4 percent, 0.4 percentage points faster than last year. The consuming hotspots pulled much of the economic development. The sales of new types of finishing materials grew more than 30 percent, and the production and sales of auto both breakthrough 3.50 million.

However, some problems still exist: overheating of investment, too many newly started projects, over-issuance of money credit, capital overflowing, imbalanced international payments, and high energy consuming. Meanwhile difficulties in increasing farmers' incomes and tough employment situation also impede the social development.

By People's Daily Online