Economic Indexes Are Improving    

The National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) reported on September 11th that the industrial production in August speeds up with the total industrial value added increasing 12.3% compared with the year-ago period. This year-on-year growth was higher than the 10.8% growth this July but lower than the 19.9% growth in August 2008. The growth for the first eight months was 8.1% year over year, compared with the 7.5% growth in the first seven months.
   In August all the 39 industrial sectors enjoyed a year-on-year growth in industrial value added. Of this, the growth for the textile sector was 9.8% and that for chemical raw materials and products manufacture sector was 18.2%.
    Among 494 products tracked, 364 of them witnessed a year-on-year growth in August. The output of coal was 260 million tons, up 14.6% over the previous year. That of electricity was 334.3 billion kWh, an increase of 9.3%. That of cement was 150 million tons, up 24.0%. That of motor vehicles was 1.167 million units, up 90.0%, of which, the output of car was 657 thousand units, up 96.2%.
   In the first eight months, the investment in fixed assets reached RMB11 298.5 billion, up 33.0% year-on-year, compared with the 32.9% growth in the first seven months. The investment in the primary industry, the secondary industry and the tertiary industry went up by 60.4%, 27.0% and 37.3% respectively.
   In August, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB1 011 billion, a year-on-year rise of 15.4%. In the first eight months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods were RMB7 876.3 billion, a year-on-year growth of 15.1%, compared with the 21.9% growth in the same period of 2008 and the 15% growth in the first seven months of this year. The consumption of oil products amounted to RMB73.5 billion in August alone with a year-on-year growth of 6.8%, and the consumption in the first eight months was RMB483.3 billion with a growth of 2.1%.
   In August, the consumer price index (CPI) went down by 1.2% year-on-year, compared with the 1.8% drop in July. In the first eight months, CPI declined by 1.2% on the year-ago period. CPI in August moved up 0.6% over the previous month.
   In August, the producer price index (PPI) went down by 7.9% year-on-year while the drop in July was 8.2%. In the first eight months, PPI fell 6.4% over the year-ago period, while it fell 6.2% in the first seven months of this year.
     In August, the purchase prices for raw materials, fuel and power decreased by 11.4% year-on-year while it increased by 15.3% in August 2008 and decreased by 11.7% in the previous month. Of that, the price of chemical raw materials went down by 11.3%.
   The Ministry of Commerce released on September 15th, FDI was US$7.499 billion this August, up 7% over one year earlier. The total FDI in the first eight months was US$55.867 billion, down 17.52% year over year.