China’s Factory Production Up, But Slower Than Previous Year
Chinas industrial output has shown signs of slowing down, Industry Week reports. Factory production did increased 16% last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics of China said. This figure was rather modest by Chinese standards, even with May having three more working days in 2008 than in 2007, following a reform of the holiday schedule, analysts said.
Industrial output had risen by 15.7% in April, but in May of last year, it had gone up significantly more at 18.1%. An economist with China International Capital Corporation, said output was mainly affected by a slowing global economy, with the increase in the value of exports delivered by Chinese industrial producers easing to 18.2% in May, from 19.9% in the same month last year.
The Chinese government said earlier the trade surplus was likely to shrink in 2008 for the first time in five years on weakening exports mainly due to the rising local currency and the U.S. economic slowdown.
But analysts said the appreciation of the Chinese yuan would continue this year at the current pace as it made imports cheaper and could thus help solve the countrys growing problem with inflation.