China's Production Saw Growth, CPI Rose in November      

The total industrial added value of the industrial enterprises above designated size rose by 19.2% year-on-year in November 2009, indicating 13.8 percentage points higher than that of November 2008 and 3.1 percentage points higher than October 2009, according to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) on December 11th, 2009.
   The figure showed the seventh consecutive monthly growth in industrial added value, NBS said.
   In the first eleven months of 2009, the accumulative industrial added value climbed 10.3% year-on-year, which was down 3.4 percentage points from the same period of 2008, or 0.9 percentage points high over the first ten months of 2009.
   By different sectors, the 39 industrial divisions kept year-on-year growth on industrial added value in November 2009. The growth was 11.2% for the textile industry and 30.7% for chemical raw materials and chemical products sector.
   Concerning 494 products tracked by NBS, the output of 421 products showed a year-on-year growth in November 2009. Among them, the output was 290 million tons for coal, up 26.3% year-on-year; 15.67 million tons for crude oil, down 1.1%. Electricity power increased 26.9% year-on-year to 323.4 billion kWh in November. Cement output was 150 million tons, up 18.0% and automobile output surged 100.8% from one year ago to 1.44 million vehicles.
   In the first eleven months of 2009, the urban investment in fixed assets aggregated RMB16 863.4 billion, up 32.1% over a year earlier, which was 5.3 percentage points higher than that in the same period of 2008, and 1.0 percentage point lower than the first ten months of 2009.
   China's consumer price index (CPI), a major measure estimating inflation, rose by 0.6% in November 2009, the first year-on-year rise since January 2009, NBS commented. It was 2.4% growth in November 2008, and 0.5% fall in October 2009.
   In parallel, the producers' prices index (PPI) for manufactured goods dropped 2.1% year-on-year in November 2009, lowering 3.7 percentage points from 5.8% in the previous month. In the past eleven months of 2009, CPI for manufactured good was down 6.0%, showing 0.4 percentage points lower from that in the first ten months of 2009. The producers' prices fell 2.7% year-on-year for means of production in November, of which that for raw materials industry down 1.7% and processing industry down 2.9%. But the producers' prices for manufactured good rose 0.6% in November on monthly basis.
   Furthermore, in November the purchaser's prices for raw materials, fuel and power decreased 3.6% from 2008, showing 4.8 percentage points lower from the drop in the previous month.
   The rising food prices and energy price reform have driven the CPI rise, according to Sheng Laiyun of NBS. To save energy and protect the environment, the central government has raised the prices of fuel and the charges for electricity and water supply with the market conditions. Earlier-than-expected snow in November in northern and central China harmed agricultural production and transportation and pushed rise in food prices.
   Analysts expressed the rising consumer prices could make inflation-control a challenging task in 2010, when the CPI growth could pass 3%.