On March 16th National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China data showed that industrial output in China fell by 13.5% year on year in December. Of this total, the chemical raw materials and chemical products industry declined by 12.3 percent. In three categories, the value added of the mining sector fell 6.5 percent in February from a year earlier, while the manufacturing sector declined 15.7 percent and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water decreased 7.1 percent. In terms of economic type, the value added of state owned enterprises fell 7.9% in February compared with a year earlier; joint-stock Company dropped 14.2% ; foreign invested enterprises, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan businesses dropped 21.4% ; and private enterprises dropped 20.2% . In terms of sectors, two of the 41 sectors recorded year on year growth in value added in February, namely oil and gas extraction, up 2.1% , and tobacco products, up 6.9% . The value added of 39 sectors decreased, of which 16.0 per cent was in the agricultural and non-staple food processing sector, 27.2 per cent in the textile sector, 12.3 per cent in the chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing sector and 21.1 per cent in the non-metallic mineral products sector, ferrous declined 2.0 percent, Non-ferrous metal declined 8.5 percent, general equipment manufacturing fell 28.2 percent, special equipment manufacturing fell 24.4 percent, and auto manufacturing fell 31.8 percent, the railway, ships, aerospace and other transportation equipment industry declined by 28.2% , the electrical machinery and equipment industry by 24.7% , and the computer, communications and other electronic equipment industry by 13.8% , electricity and heating production and supply declined by 7.3% . In February, the value added in eastern China, central China, western China and northeast China decreased by 16.9% , 16.7% , 7.6% and 11.5% respectively. By product, as of February, 79 out of 612 products were on a year on year increase. Non-ferrous metal 9.35 million tons, up 2.2 percent; ethylene 3.52 million tons, up 5.6 percent; steel 167.13 million tons, down 3.4 percent; cement 149.82 million tons, down 29.5 percent; and automobiles 2.005 million, down 45.8 percent, including 51,000 new energy vehicles, down 62.8 percent Power generation was 1,026.7 billion kwh, down 8.2 percent, while crude oil processing was 99.19 million tons, down 3.8 percent. 1 in February, the sales rate of industrial enterprises was 97.4% , down 0.7 percentage point year on year, while the value of export deliveries by industrial enterprises was 1354.5 billion yuan, down 19.1% in nominal terms. In February, the value added by industries above the size of the economy fell 26.63 per cent from the previous month.
