China’s industrial output grew at slower pace in Mar, fewer industries recorded positive growth
DATA MARKET TOP
China’s industrial output grew at slower pace in Mar, fewer industries recorded positive growth
DATA MARKET TOP

China’s industrial output grew at slower pace in Mar, fewer industries recorded positive growth

 

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China’s industrial output grew at a slower pace in March after strong performing in the first two months of the year and missed market expectations.

China’s industrial output grew 4.5% in March from a year earlier, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, slowing from the 7% growth in the January – February period and compared to expectation of a 5.3% growth.

On a month-on-month basis, China’s industrial output fell by 0.08% in March, compared to the 0.4% growth in February, marking the first drop since May 2023, showed the data.

For the first quarter, industrial output grew 6.1% from a year earlier, according to the data. 

“The growth of China’s industrial output in the first quarter picked up significantly from the same period in 2023 and the previous quarter, mainly due to improvement in exports,” said Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson of the NBS. “Industrial output growth contributed 37.3% of China’s GDP growth in the quarter, driving nearly 2 percentage points of GDP growth.”

By sector, the manufacturing sector’s output grew by 5.1% in March from a year earlier, slowing by 2.6 percentage points from the 7.7% growth for the January – February period which was. the first fastest since July 2022. The utilities sector’s output grew by 4.9%, slowing by 3 percentage points, while the mining sector’s output grew by 0.2%, slowing by 2.1 percentage points.

Among the 41 major industries, 32 industries saw output grow in March from a year earlier, compared to 39 in the first two months.

Output in raw material-related industries grew at a slower pace, with the growth of output in oil and gas mining industry, ferrous metal smelting and non-ferrous metal smelting industry slowing by 1.3 – 5.4 percentage points, while output in the coal mining and washing industry falling 1.6%, compared to previous 1.4% gain.

Output in the automobile manufacturing industry and computer, telecommunication and other electric equipment manufacturing industry also grew at slower pace, though the pace remained high at 9.4% and 10.6%