Industrial output growth slows in May
(Xu Binglan)
06/12/2001
Slower growth in heavy industries and weak demand from overseas markets caused a slowdown in China's industrial output growth last month, which stood at 10.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis. This compared with 11.5 per cent in April, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.Through the first five months of 2001, industrial output growth stood at a combined 11.1 per cent, figures released by the bureau suggest. Leading contributors to the slowdown were coal, metallurgy and automobiles, the bureau said. Coal production in May grew 6.9 per cent, down from 10.8 per cent in April. Automobile production slumped 16.4 per cent. And the metallurgical industry's growth rate decelerated by 2.2 percentage points. The bureau did not provide an actual growth rate for metallurgy. The growth rate of industrial exports touched a 16-month low of 8.2 per cent in May. The rate for April was 10.9 per cent. The textile industry, which relies heavily on international markets, bore the brunt of shrinking external demand, according to the bureau. Textile production growth fell to 8.3 per cent in May from 16.2 per cent in April. Shipments of electronic and telecommunications equipment grew 9.5 per cent, down from 17.8 per cent in April. The richest regions of the country, including Shanghai, South China's Guangdong Province, and East China's Jiangsu Province, witnessed the most significant slowdown in industrial growth last month. Shanghai's growth rate for May was 6.6 percentage points lower than April, the bureau said. It did not specify how fast Shanghai's industries were growing last month. The bureau said State companies and foreign-funded firms suffered bigger slowdowns than share-holding companies. Industrial growth for State companies was 8.8 per cent, compared with 10.7 per cent for the previous month. Industrial growth for share-holding companies stood at 11.5 per cent, unchanged from the previous month.
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