National Economy Maintains Upward Momentum in Jan-Sep

In the first three quarters of 2017, China’s GDP was up 6.9% YoY to RMB59.33 trillion. The improvement was basically the same as H1 2017, and was up 0.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
Domestic firms with annual revenue of at least RMB20 million from main business operations saw a year-on-year growth of 6.7% (up 0.7 percentage points YoY) in industrial added value in the first three quarters of 2017 (September, up 6.6% YoY, 0.6 percentage points greater than in August). In detail, added value was down 1.6% YoY in the mining industry, but was up 7.3% YoY in the manufacturing industry. As for others, it was up 8.4% YoY in the electricity, heating power, fuel gas and water production and supply industry. Further, high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries both boosted added value, up 13.4% YoY and 11.6% YoY, respectively.
Proportion of products sold of firms with annual revenue of at least RMB20 million from main business operations reached 97.8% in the first three quarters of 2017. In September, China’s PMI was 52.4%, the highest since May 2012.
Foreign trade was up 16.6% YoY to RMB20.29 trillion in January-September. More specifically, export value was up 12.4% YoY to RMB11.16 trillion, and import value was up 22.3% YoY to RMB9.13 trillion, resulting in a trade surplus of RMB2.03 trillion.
In the first three quarters of 2017, China’s CPI was up 1.5% YoY (September, up 1.6% YoY, down 0.2 percentage points from August), and PPI was up 6.5% YoY.