Key figures indicate positive real economy, says NDRC

China's real economy remains stable and positive since the beginning of this year amid the deepening of structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, according to the latest report by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner. New industries and products witnessed rapid growth, contributing to revenue growth of enterprises, it said.

Machinery, electronics key industrial players

The added value of industries above a designated scale grew by 6.9 percent through to May on a yearly basis, with a 0.2 percentage points increase in growth from the previous year. Upstream raw materials industry maintained stable increase, with electric power, petrochemical, and non-ferrous industry witnessing growth of 10.5 percent, 4.9 percent, and 4.3 percent respectively on a yearly basis.

Coal and steel industries, two key players in cutting overcapacity, saw industry added value up 2.8 and 3.4 percent, a sharp increase from the same period last year. Machinery and electronics industry posted added value growth of 8.4 and 12.8 percent, contributing 2.9 percentage points to the added value growth of the whole industry. The added value of pharmaceutical industry also jumped 10.9 percent year-on-year.

Structural adjustment benefit high-tech and emerging industries

The added value of high-tech industry and equipment manufacturing increased by 12 percent and 9.3 percent year-on-year respectively through to May, a growth rate of 5.1 and 2.4 percentage points higher than that of all industries above scale.

Investment in high-tech manufacturing increased by 9.7 percent on a yearly basis in January-May period, while investment in equipment manufacturing increased by 8.2 percent, 4.5 and 3 percentage points higher than all investment in manufacturing industry.

Investment in technological upgrading in manufacturing increased by 15.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 45.4 percent of investment in manufacturing, up 4.1 percent year from the previous year.

New energy vehicle output soared by 85.8 percent through to May on a yearly basis. Industrial robots and steam turbines for power stations also witnessed output increase of 33.7 percent and 25.5 percent respectively. Output of smart TVs and electronic components posted a 23.2 percent and 20.9 percent growth respectively.

Industrial profits increase, economic quality improves

Profits of industrial enterprises above the scale increased by 15 percent year-on-year through to April, maintaining a double-digit growth of last year. The growth rate in April was 21.9 percent, 18.8 percentage points faster than that in March.

The profitability of enterprises has been enhanced, as the profit margin of main business income of industrial enterprises above the scale through to April posted 6.24 percent, up 0.24 percentage points from the previous year.

Enterprises debt ratio was 56.5 percent by the end of April, down 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier. Profits in the steel and coal sectors rose 77.4 per cent and 16 percent respectively in the same period last year. The asset-liability ratio of steel and coal enterprises dropped 3.2 percent and 2.3 percent respectively at April end, compared with the same period last year.

The inventory turnover of finished products accelerated, as turnover days of finished products of non-ferrous metal enterprises above the scale of January-April period were 14 days, 0.8 days faster than that of January to March. The turnover days of finished products of textile enterprises were 19.1 days, 0.9 days faster than that of the previous year.

Clean energy power generation a new high

China's electricity generation increased by 8.5 percent through to May, with solar power, wind power and nuclear power increasing by 26.3 percent, 24.8 percent and 11.3 percent respectively.

The electricity consumption of the whole society grew by 9.8 percent year-on-year in the first five months, a 3.4 percentage points increase in growth speed. The electricity consumption of the secondary industry increased by 7.7 percent, becoming the major trigger of electricity consumption growth.

Data shows that the electricity consumption of 28 industries in 31 categories of the manufacturing industry increased, with emerging industries maintained a rapid growth momentum.

Electricity consumption in computer communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, general equipment manufacturing and automobile manufacturing all grew at more than 10 percent.

Power consumption of the third industry rose 15.1 percent year-on-year. The consumption of software and information service industry grew by 66.1 percent on a yearly basis, while that of internet and internet service industry jumped 63.3 percent, with internet data service industry saw skyrocketing growth of 207.1 percent.

Electricity consumption of the whole society rose 11.4 percent in May from a year earlier, with growth up 6.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

Freight transportation demand increases with higher efficiency in logistics

Total cargo volume reached 18.86 billion tons, an increase of 7 percent over the previous year with an increase of 0.7 percentage points over the first quarter. Railways grew by 7.2 percent, roads by 8 percent, water transport by 1.9 percent and civil aviation by 6.6 percent.

It is worth adding that the growth rate of railway freight transportation increased significantly in May, as freight volume of China's railways totaled 339 million tons, up 11.8 percent year-on-year. The volume of coal and smelting products increased by 11.4 percent and 6.6 percent respectively, while that of grain and mineral construction materials increased by 63.9 percent and 27.6 percent respectively.

China's railways loaded 169,000 trains a day in average in the first half of June, an increase of 3,160 vehicles from the first half of May, up 10.7 percent year-on-year, with coal loading up 16.6 percent.

Logistics costs fell further thanks to China's tax and fee cut policy. Logistics cost of every 100 yuan ($15.43) valued logistics decreased by 2.3 percent from a year earlier, with transportation cost growth falling 6.3 percent from a year earlier.

China's logistics business index was 56.1 percent in May, up 1.5 percentage points from the previous month. The new orders index rose 1.6 percentage points, and the expected business activity index was 60.8 percent, indicating a positive future of the industry.

Coal and petroleum output sees swift growth

China produced 1.4 billion tons of coal, up 4 percent year-on-year, an increase of 0.2 percentage points over the January-April period. Railway coal transportation volume rose by 9.9 percent to 980 million tons through to May. The country consumed 870 million tons of coal for electricity, an increase of 90.56 million tons over the same period last year with a growth of 12 percent, the highest rate since 2011.

Crude oil processing volume was 249.78 million tons, up 8.9 percent year-on-year. The consumption of refined oil was 132.36 million tons, a growth at 6.5 percent on a yearly basis.

Gasoline consumption increased by 5.9 percent and aviation kerosene consumption by 10.8 percent, indicating strong demand for business and tourism travel. Diesel consumption grew by 6.1 percent, continuing a sustained recovery since last year, showing a rebound in demand for oil in industries such as infrastructure construction, transportation and logistics, and industrial production.

Natural gas consumption totaled 112.7 billion cubic meters, up 17.6 percent year-on-year. The consumption of natural gas in May was 22.1 billion cubic meters, up 17.5 percent on a yearly basis.