At the press conference of the State Council Information Office held on July 23, the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that the industrial economy has steadily recovered since the second quarter, and the preliminary judgment of economic operation has returned to the normal track.

In the first half of the year, various indicators of China ’s industrial economy dropped first and then rose, and the operating conditions in the second quarter improved month by month. Specifically, there are four positive changes.

 

Indicators of industrial economic operation improved. In the first two months, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size dropped by 13.5% year-on-year. By March, the decline narrowed to 1.1%. In April, May and June, the growth rate was 3.9%, 4.4% and 4.8% respectively. At the same time, market sales have picked up, and the production-sales ratio has remained at around 98% in the past few months. Business expectations are improving. The manufacturing purchasing managers’ index in June was 50.9%, which was above the threshold separating contraction from expansion for four consecutive months.

 

Major industries and key provinces have improved simultaneously. Among the 41 major industrial categories, more than half of the industries achieved positive growth in the second quarter. Among them, the equipment manufacturing industry’s added value growth rate in May and June reached 9.5% and 9.7% respectively. From a regional perspective, 18 provinces achieved positive growth in value added in the first half of the year. Most of the 10 major industrial provinces have returned to positive growth.

 

Emerging industries have grown against the trend. In the first half of the year, the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 4.5%, and rebounded rapidly after a sharp drop of 14.4% in the first two months. Since March, the monthly growth rate has remained between 8.9% - 10.5%. The added value of industries such as biomedicine, electronics and communication equipment, and medical instruments and equipment increased by 13.8%, 7.2% and 27.2% year-on-year respectively. In June, the output of 3D printing equipment, smart watches, charging piles and other products increased by more than 40%.

 

The policy of stabilizing and benefiting enterprises has been strengthened to increase efficiency. Since the beginning of this year, the cumulative tax cuts and fees have exceeded 1 trillion yuan. In terms of financial policies, we implemented inclusive and targeted RRR cuts three times, and comprehensively used rediscount and refinancing measures. In the first five months, the balance of mid- and long-term manufacturing loans increased by 19.6% year-on-year.

 

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the main force to protect productivity and the main channel to stabilize employment. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the operation of small and medium-sized enterprises has picked up significantly. In the first half of the year, the decline in the production of small and medium-sized enterprises above designated size narrowed by 10.3 percentage points compared with the first quarter, and the profit decline in the first five months was 21.7 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter. Since entering the second quarter, the growth rate of the main economic indicators of SMEs has turned from negative to positive. Among them, operating income increased by 8.6% and 3% in April and May, and total profits increased by 14.9% and 14.1% respectively.