Li Xiaochao

Spokesman

National Bureau of Statistics of China

16 April 2009

In early 2009, all regions and departments effectively implemented the policies and measures set by the central government on further stimulating domestic demand, promoting the sound and fast growth of national economy, and responded with tenacious spirit to the impacts from the international financial crisis, the overall national economy showed positive changes with better performance than expected.

According to preliminary estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China in the first quarter of this year was 6,574.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.1 percent, which was 4.5 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year. The value added of the primary industry was 470.0 billion yuan, up by 3.5 percent; that of the secondary industry was 3,196.8 billion yuan, up by 5.3 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 2,907.7 billion yuan, up by 7.4 percent.

1. Agricultural production achieved good start with increased acreage of grain crops. The expected planting area for grain would reach 108.14 million hectares, an increase of 1.35 million hectares, which was the sixth successive year of increased output. Of this total, the planting area for summer grain was 27.16 million hectares, a year-on-year increase of 0.34 million hectares; the output of early rice was 5.86 million hectares, an increase of 0.15 million hectares; and that of autumn crops was 75.12 million hectares, a year-on-year increase of 0.86 million hectares. At present, the growth of crop seedlings of winter wheat was good. The proportion of first and second grade seedlings accounted for 82.5 percent of the total. In the first quarter of this year, the total output of pork, beef and mutton reached 16.15 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 6.0 percent.

2. Industrial production increased steadily with decreased profits made by enterprises. In the first quarter of this year, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up 5.1 percent year-on-year, or 11.3 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter of 2008, but March witnessed increased growth with 8.3 percent compared with 3.8 percent in the first two months of this year. Analysis on different types of enterprises showed that the value added growth of the state-owned and state holding enterprises went up by 0.1 percent; collective enterprises, 3.5 percent; share-holding enterprises, 7.7 percent; however, value added for enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan provinces was down by 1.4 percent. The year-on-year growth of heavy industry was 4.5 percent, and 6.8 percent for the light industry. Among the 39 industrial divisions, 33 divisions registered year-on-year growth while the other 6 divisions undergone decline. In terms of different areas, the growth in eastern, central and western areas was 3.7 percent, 5.2 percent and 11.8 percent respectively. The production and market of industrial products went on well. In the first quarter of this year, the sales ratio of industrial products was 97.07 percent.

In the first two months of this year, the profits made by industrial enterprises above designated size stood at 219.1 billion yuan, down by 37.3 percent year-on-year. Among the 39 industrial divisions, 23 divisions registered year-on-year decrease with profits, and another 4 divisions suffered from loses. However, some divisions maintained growth or reversed from loss to profit. The growth went up 15.6 for textiles and clothing, 24.7 for furniture manufacturing, and the petroleum processing and coking industry gained 11.7 billion yuan of profits whereas they suffered 19.4 billion yuan of loses in the previous year.