The gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 20,650.4 billion yuan (US$2,908.74 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 6.8% at comparable prices according to the preliminary estimates of National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS).
By industry, the value added of the primary industry was 1,018.6 billion yuan, down by 3.2%; that of the secondary industry was 7,363.8 billion yuan, down by 9.6%; and that of the tertiary industry was 12,268.0 billion yuan, down by 5.2%.
Overall Agricultural Production
In Q1 2020, the value added of agriculture (crop farming) grew by 3.5% year on year.
By the end of March, the sown area of grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ seedling of winter wheat accounted for 87.2% of the total, 3.5 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year.
In Q1 2020, the output of eggs grew by 4.3%, and that of milk grew by 4.6 percent. The output of pork, beef, mutton and poultry was 18.13 million tons. The pig production capacity continued to get recovered.
By the end of Q1 2020, 321.20 million pigs were registered in stock, up by 3.5% over the end of the Q4 2019, among which 33.81 million were breeding sows, up by 9.8%.
Industrial Production Dropped
In Q1 2020, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went down by 8.4% year on year.
Specifically, in March, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size went down by 1.1% year on year, or 12.4 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months, while the month-on-month growth was 32.13%, with the industrial output approaching the level of the same period last year.
An analysis by types of ownership showed that the value added of the state holding enterprises dropped by 6.0% year on year; that of share-holding enterprises down by 8.4 percent; that of enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan down by 14.5 percent; and that of private enterprises down by 11.3 percent.
In terms of sector:
- the value added of mining went down by 1.7%
- manufacturing down by 10.2%
- the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water down by 5.2 percent.
- The output of natural gas, non-woven fabrics, chemical medicine materials, crude oil, ten kinds of nonferrous metal, ethylene and crude steel went up by 9.1%, 6.1%, 4.5%, 2.4%, 2.1%, 1.3% and 1.2% respectively.
- The output of automatic vending and ticket machines, electronic components, integrated circuits, urban rail vehicles, and solar cells went up by 35.3%, 16.2%, 16.0%, 13.1% and 3.4% respectively.
In March, the high-tech manufacturing went up by 8.9% year on year, among which, the manufacturing of computers, communication equipment, and other electronic equipment went up by 9.9 percent.
The output of industrial robots and power generation equipment went up by 12.9% and 20.0% respectively.
Service Production Dropped
In Q1 2020, the total value added of the tertiary industry dropped year on year, while that of the information transmission, software and information technology services and that of financial intermediation went up by 13.2% and 6.0% respectively.
In March, the Index of Services Production dropped by 9.1%, 3.9 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.
In the first two months, the business revenue of service enterprises above the designated size dropped by 12.2%, among which, that of internet and related services and that of software and information technology services went up by 10.1% and 0.7% respectively.
In March, the Business Activity Index for services was 51.8%, 21.7 percentage points higher than last month.
Specifically, the Business Activity Index for transportation, storage and post, retail trades and monetary and financial services was relatively high, reaching 59.3%, 60.6% and 62.9% respectively.
In terms of market expectation, the Business Activities Expectation Index for service was 56.8%, 17.1 percentage points higher than last month, showing greater confidence of enterprises for market development.
Investment Growth Slowed
In Q1 2020, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 8,414.5 billion yuan, down by 16.1% year on year, 8.4 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.
Specifically, the investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, and real estate development declined by 19.7%, 25.2%, and 7.7% respectively, 10.6 percentage points, 6.3 percentage points and 8.6 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.
The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 219.78 million square meters, down by 26.3 percent; and the total sales of commercial buildings were 2,036.5 billion yuan, down by 24.7%, the decline of which was narrowed by 13.6 percentage points and 11.2 percentage points compared to that of the first two months respectively.
By industry, the investment in the primary industry went down by 13.8 percent; the secondary industry down by 21.9 percent; the tertiary industry down by 13.5 percent; and the private investment reached 4,780.4 billion yuan, down by 18.8 percent.
The decline was narrowed by 11.8 percentage points, 6.3 percentage points, 9.5 percentage points and 7.6 percentage points respectively compared to that of the first two months.
The investment in the high-tech industry declined by 12.1%, 4.0 percentage points lower than that of the total investment.
Of the total, the investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services went down by 13.5% and 9.0% respectively. In terms of high-tech manufacturing, the investment in manufacturing of computer and office equipment grew by 3.2 percent.
In terms of high-tech services, the investment in e-commerce services went up by 39.6%, that in professional technical services up by 36.7%, and that in services for commercialization of research findings up by 17.4%.
The investment in social sectors went down by 8.8%, among which, the investment in health sector dropped by 0.9%, or 15.2 percentage points lower than the decline of the total investment.
Investment in the manufacturing of biological medicines and products and other anti-epidemic related industries maintained growth, and construction of key projects for epidemic prevention accelerated.
In March 2020, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) grew by 6.05% month on month.
Imports and Exports of Goods Slowed Down
In Q1 2020, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 6,574.2 billion yuan, down by 6.4% year on year.
In March, the total value of imports and exports was 2,445.9 billion yuan, down by 0.8% year on year, a decline slowed by 8.7 percentage points compared to that of the first two months.
Of the total, the value of exports was 1,292.7 billion yuan, down by 3.5 percent; the value of imports was 1,153.2 billion yuan, up by 2.4%, with import of general trade growing by 4.0 percent.
In Q1 2020, the total value of exports was 3,336.3 billion yuan, down by 11.45%; the total value of imports was 3,238.0 billion yuan, down by 0.75%.
The trade balance was 98.3 billion yuan in surplus. The import and export of general trade accounted for 60.0% of the total value of the imports and exports, an increase of 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
In Q1 2020, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2,408.2 billion yuan, down by 10.3% year on year, 8.8 percentage points lower than the decline of the first two months.
In March, the export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 1,030.7 billion yuan, up by 3.1 percent.
Growth of Consumer Price Declined
In Q1 2020, China CPI went up by 4.9% year on year. Check out details here.
In Q1 2020, the producer prices for industrial products went down by 0.6% year on year.
Specifically, the prices in March dropped by 1.5% year on year, 1.1 percentage points faster than the year-on-year decline in the first two months, or down by 1.0% month on month.
In Q1 2020, the purchasing prices for industrial producers went down by 0.8% year on year; specifically in March, the prices dropped by 1.6% year on year, or down by 1.1% month on month.
Surveyed Unemployment Rate in Urban Areas Dropped
In Q1 2020, the newly increased employed people in urban areas totaled 2.29 million according to NBS.
In March, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9%, 0.3 percentage points lower than that of February.
Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate of population aged from 25 to 59 was 5.4%, 0.5 percentage points lower than the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas, 0.2 percentage points lower than that of last month.
The urban unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.7%, the same as the previous month. In March, the employees of enterprises worked averagely 44.8 hours per week, 4.6 hours more than last month. By the end of February, the number of rural migrant workers reached 122.51 million.
China per capita income down 3.9% in Q1 2020; and, retail sales down 19%.