National Economy Continues Stable Recovery

By Lily Wang

In April， production and demand continued to grow， employment and prices were generally stable， and new growth drivers were cultivated and thriving. The national economy continued the momentum of stable recovery.

1. Industrial production maintained stable growth， and equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing grew fast

In April， the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 9.8% year on year， a two-year average growth of 6.8%， or 0.6% age points faster than that of March； month-on-month growth was 0.52%. In terms of sectors， the value added of mining grew by 3.2% year on year， with a two-year average growth of 1.7%； manufacturing up by 10.3% year on year with two-year average growth of 7.6%； the production and supply of electricity， heat power， gas and water up by 10.3% year on year with the two-year average growth up by 5.1%. Equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing value added grew by 13.1% and 12.7% year on year， or two-year average growths of 11.2% and 11.6% respectively. In terms of the output of products， year-on-year growth of new energy vehicles， industrial robots， integrated circuits and micro computer equipment reached 175.9%， 43.0%， 29.4% and 13.5% respectively with two-year average growths all exceeding 19%. An analysis by types of ownership showed that， the value added of the state holding enterprises grew by 8.6% year on year； that of share-holding enterprises went up by 10.4%； that of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong， Macao and Taiwan went up by 8.4%； and that of private enterprises went up by 11.2%. In the first four months， industrial enterprises above the designated sizes total value added of went up by 20.3% year on year with a two-year average growth of 7%. In April， the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index stood at 51.1%， staying above the threshold for fourteen consecutive months. The Production and Operation Expectation Index registered 58.3%.

In the first three months， total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size reached RMB 1，825.4 billion， an increase of 1.37 times compared with that of the same period last year， with a two-year average growth of 22.6%. The profit rate of the business revenue of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 6.64%， 2.76% age points higher than that of the first three months in 2020.

2. The service sector maintained growth and the business activity index for services stayed within the expansion range

In April， the Index of Services Production increased by 18.2% year on year， with a two-year average growth of 6.2%. In terms of major sectors， the Production Indices for eight sectors all maintained a year-onyear growth. In the first four months， the Index of Services Production grew by 26.4% year on year， with a two-year average growth of 6.7%. In the first three months， business revenue for services enterprises above the designated size grew by 37.1% with a two-year average growth reaching 10.2%. Of this total， the business revenue of information transmission， software and information technology services and that of scientific research and technology services grew by 31.7% and 43.5% year on year， with the two-year average growths reaching 17.0% and 11.7% respectively. In April， the Business Activity Index for services was 54.4%， staying above the threshold for fourteen consecutive months. In terms of sectors， the Business Activity Index for railway transportation， air transportation and accommodation stayed above 65%. Meanwhile， some industries hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated recovery evidently with the Business Activities Index for accommodation， catering， ecological protection and environmental treatment， culture， sports and recreation registering 1.8% age points to 5.7% age points higher than that of the previous month. In terms of market expectation， the Business Activity Expectation Index for services stood at 62.7%， staying within high expansion range of 60% and above for three consecutive months.

3. Market sales continued recovering and the online retail sales grew fast

In April， the total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 3，315.3 billion， up by 17.7% year on year， an two-year average growth of 4.3%； and the month-on-month growth was 0.32%. Analyzed by different areas， the retail sales in urban areas reached RMB 2，888.8 billion， up by 17.6% year on year， a two-year average growth of 4.3%； the retail sales in rural areas reached RMB 426.5 billion， up by 17.8%， a two-year average growth of 4.3%. Grouped by consumption， the retail sales of goods was RMB 2，977.6 billion， up by 15.1% year on year， a two-year average growth of 4.8%； the income of catering was RMB 337.7 billion， up by 46.4%， a two-year average growth of 0.4%. Grouped by categories， for retail sales of goods by enterprises above the designated size in April， the year-on-year growth rate of 13 categories exceeded 10%. In terms of the two-year average growth， the retail sales of all categories kept positive growth except that of the household electric appliances. Of the total， the two-year average growth of 10 categories including sports and recreational articles， gold， silver and jewellery， and telecommunication equipment exceeded 10%. The online retail sales continued to grow. In the first four months， the online retail sales reached RMB 3，763.8 billion， a year-on-year growth of 27.6%， a two-year average growth of 13.9%. Specifically， the online retail sales of physical goods was RMB 3，077.4 billion， a year-on-year growth of 23.1%， a two-year average growth of 15.6%， accounting for 22.2% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

4. Investment in fixed assets continued to recover and investment in the primary industry， high-tech industries and social sectors grew fast

In the first four months， the investment in fixed assets （exclud-ing rural households） reached RMB 14，380.4 billion， up by 19.9% year on year， with a two-year average growth of 3.9%. In April， the investment in fixed assets grew by 1.49% month on month. Specifically， in the first four months， the investment in infrastructure grew by 18.4% year on year， an average two-year increase of 2.4%； the investment in manufacturing grew by 23.8% year on year， an average twoyear decrease of 0.4%； the investment in real estate development grew by 21.6% year on year， a two-year average growth of 8.4%. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 503.05 million square meters， up by 48.1% year on year with the two-year average growth of 9.3%； and the total sales of commercial buildings were RMB 5，360.9 billion， up by 68.2% year on year with the two-year average growth of 17.0%. By industry， the investment in the primary industry went up by 35.5% year on year， a twoyear average growth of 15.2%； the secondary industry up by 21.7% year on year， an average two-year increase of 0.8%； the tertiary industry up by 18.7% year on year， a two-year average growth of 5%. The private investment went up by 21% year on year， a two-year average growth of 2.9%. The investment in high-tech industry grew by 28.8% year on year， a two-year average growth of 11.8%. Specifically， the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 34.2% and 18.1% year on year with the two-year average growths of 13.7% and 7.8%. In terms of high-tech manufacturing， the investment in manufacturing of medical equipment， measuring instrument and equipment and in manufacturing of medicine grew by 40.3% and 33.1% year on year with the two-year average growths of 13.4% and 13.8%. In terms of high-tech services， the investment in testing services and e-commerce services went up by 46.1% and 39.1% year on year with the two-year average growths of 17.6% and 32.2%. The investment in social sectors grew by 26.3% year on year with the two-year average growth of 10.6%. Specifically， the investment in health sector and education sector grew by 46.5% and 22.1% year on year with the twoyear average growths of 23.9% and 12.1%.

5. Imports and exports of goods witnessed a strong momentum of growth and the trade structure continued to be optimized

In April， the total value of imports and exports of goods was RMB 3，149.2 billion， up by 26.6% year on year. The value of exports was RMB 1，712.8 billion， up by 22.2% year on year， and the value of imports was RMB 1，436.3 billion， up by 32.2% year on year. The trade balance was RMB 276.5 billion in surplus. In the first four months， the total value of imports and exports of goods was RMB 11，623.7 billion， up by 28.5% year on year. The value of exports was RMB 6，325.5 billion， up by 33.8% year on year， and the value of imports was RMB 5，298.2 billion， up by 22.7% year on year. The trade structure continued to optimize. In the first four months， the exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 36.3% year on year， accounting for 59.9% of the total exports. The import and export of general trade accounted for 61.6% of the total value of the imports and exports， 1.8% age points higher than the same period of the previous year. The imports and exports by private enterprises accounted for 47.2% of the total imports and exports， 4.1% age points higher than the same period of the previous year.

6. Consumer prices were generally stable and producer prices for industrial products went up year on year

In April， consumer prices went up by 0.9% year on year， 0.5% faster than March， and down by 0.3% month on month. Grouped by commodity categories， prices for food， tobacco and alcohol went up by 0.1% year on year； clothing up by 0.2%； housing up by 0.4%； articles and services for daily use up by 0.4%； transport and communication up by 4.9%； education， culture and recreation up by 1.3%； medical services and health care up by 0.1%； and other articles and services down by 1.3%. Among the prices for food， tobacco and alcohol， the price for pork went down by 21.4%， fresh vegetables down by 1.3%， grain up by 1.1% and fresh fruit up by 2.7%. The core CPI excluding the price of food and energy went up by 0.7%， 0.4% faster than March. In the first four months， the consumer price went up by 0.2% year on year.