China's Chemical Raw Materials and Chemical Products Manufacturing Output Up 7.2% in July

The National Bureau of Statistics of China recently released data showing that in July, the value-added of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.7% year-on-year in real terms. Among them, the petroleum and natural gas extraction sector grew by 4.1%, while the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing sector expanded by 7.2%.

For the January–July period, the value-added of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6.3% year-on-year. Specifically, petroleum and natural gas extraction rose by 3.7%, and chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing surged by 8.0%.

By major industry categories: in July, mining industry value-added grew 5.0% year-on-year, manufacturing rose 6.2%, and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water increased 3.3%.

By type of ownership: in July, value-added of state-owned holding enterprises grew by 5.4% year-on-year; joint-stock enterprises rose 6.5%; foreign-invested enterprises, including those from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, increased 2.8%; and private enterprises grew 5.0%.

By industry: among 41 major industries, 35 recorded year-on-year growth in value-added in July. Notable figures include: coal mining and washing up 4.2%, petroleum and natural gas extraction up 4.1%, agricultural and sideline food processing up 5.6%, alcohol, beverage, and refined tea manufacturing up 0.1%, textiles up 1.7%, chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing up 7.2%, non-metallic mineral products down 0.6%, ferrous metal smelting and rolling up 8.6%, non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling up 6.8%, general equipment manufacturing up 8.4%, special equipment manufacturing up 3.8%, automobile manufacturing up 8.5%, railway, ship, aerospace and other transportation equipment manufacturing up 13.7%, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing up 10.2%, and computer, communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing up 10.2%. The production and supply of electricity and heat grew 3.4%.

By product: among 623 major industrial products, 335 registered year-on-year output growth in July. Steel output reached 122.95 million tons, up 6.4%; cement output was 145.57 million tons, down 5.6%; ten non-ferrous metals totaled 6.81 million tons, up 2.2%; ethylene output was 3.12 million tons, up 9.1%. Automobile production totaled 2.51 million units, up 8.4%, of which new energy vehicles reached 1.176 million units, up 17.1%. Power generation reached 926.7 billion kWh, up 3.1%; crude oil processing amounted to 63.06 million tons, up 8.9%.

In July, the product sales rate of industrial enterprises above designated size was 97.1%, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. Export delivery value of these enterprises stood at RMB 1.2904 trillion, representing a nominal year-on-year increase of 0.8%.

Fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) totaled RMB 288.229 trillion in January–July, up 1.6% year-on-year. Investment in chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing, however, declined by 4.7% during the same period.

By sector:

1) Primary industry investment reached RMB 564.6 billion, up 5.6% year-on-year.

2) Secondary industry investment reached RMB 10.4455 trillion, up 8.9%.

3) Tertiary industry investment reached RMB 17.8128 trillion, down 2.3%.

Within the secondary industry, industrial investment grew 9.0% year-on-year. Specifically, mining investment rose 3.0%, manufacturing investment increased 6.2%, and investment in electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply jumped 21.5%.

Within the tertiary industry, infrastructure investment (excluding electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply) increased by 3.2% year-on-year. Among them, water transportation investment rose 18.9%, water conservancy management investment grew 12.6%, and railway transportation investment increased 5.9%.

By region: investment in eastern China declined by 2.4% year-on-year, while central China rose 3.2%, western China grew 3.6%, and northeastern China fell 3.0%.

By type of registration: domestic enterprise fixed asset investment increased 1.7% year-on-year, investment by enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan grew 3.5%, while foreign enterprise investment dropped 15.7%.