Industrial Production Meets Forecast... Retail Sales Fall 25% Short of Forecast
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] China's industrial production and retail sales growth rates in April showed a slight slowdown compared to the previous month.
On the 17th, the National Bureau of Statistics of China announced that China's industrial production in April increased by 9.8% year-on-year. This is 4.3 percentage points lower than the previous month's growth rate of 14.1%.
During this period, retail sales increased by 17.7%. This figure fell short of the forecast of 24.9% and contrasted with the March growth rate of 34.2%.
While the industrial production growth rate was close to the market expectation of 10%, the retail sales growth rate did not reach the previous month's level and was significantly below market expectations, despite China promoting the domestic market as a new growth engine through the "dual circulation economy."
Fixed asset investment from January to April increased by 19.9%, slowing down compared to 25.6% from January to March, but slightly higher than the market forecast of 19.0%.
Private sector fixed asset investment, which accounts for about 60% of total investment, increased by 21.0% from January to April, lower than the 26.0% from January to March.
Additionally, due to the rapid recovery of the U.S. economy and production disruptions in other countries, China's export growth rate in April exceeded expectations at 22.2%, and imports rose by 32.2%, marking the highest growth rate in the past 10 years.
The National Bureau of Statistics expressed concern, stating, "The foundation of China's economic recovery is not yet solid," and "new situations and problems are emerging during the development process."
Earlier, the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China held a meeting at the end of last month chaired by President Xi Jinping, stating, "We will promote domestic demand recovery and encourage manufacturing and private investment to recover as soon as possible."
It also pointed out that although China is emerging from the impact of COVID-19 and returning to a normalization track, the current economic recovery is in an unbalanced state.
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