China’s economy slowed across the board last month with factory activity and retail sales disappointing, suggesting the world’s No. 2 economy is losing traction in the third quarter.
Production at Chinese factories and mines rose at the slowest rate since November and expanded 5.7 percent last month from a year earlier, according to data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday, compared with June’s gain of 6.8 percent. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase of 6 percent.
Retail sales grew 3.7 percent year-on-year last month, the slowest this year, down from 4.8 percent in the previous month. Expansion in fixed-asset investment in the first seven months of the year decelerated to 1.6 percent, as a contraction in the real estate sector deepened. The urban unemployment rate rose more than expected to 5.2 percent.
Photo: EPA
“China’s economy overcame negative factors including a complex and fast-changing external environment and extreme weather at home, and maintained progress amid stability,” the NBS said in a statement. “The economy showed relatively strong resilience and vibrancy.”
The offshore yuan held steady after the data release and the yield on China’s 10-year government bonds edged slightly lower.
The latest snapshot of the economy indicated China’s growth lost steam after a show of resilience earlier in the year allowed Beijing to take a wait-and-see approach to further stimulus.
Top leaders have signaled they would stick with supportive measures already planned while promising to pump more aid when needed, a strategy analysts expect to be fine-tuned pending economic figures in the coming months.
Although uncertainty abounds over the outlook for global trade, industrial activity and construction also suffered from extreme weather. The disruptions last month, caused by high temperatures, unusually heavy rain and flooding in large swathes of China, added to what is traditionally a slow season for the economy.
Growth in yuan-denominated new loans contracted for the first time in 20 years in the month, highlighting subdued willingness for borrowing and spending.
China’s exports remained a bright spot this year, despite a drop in shipments to the US after US President Donald Trump raised tariffs.
Instead of announcing massive new measures to juice growth, Beijing has in recent weeks ramped up efforts to curb cutthroat competition among businesses. The campaign has attracted intense attention from investors given the stakes involved in reflating the economy and the potential impact on corporate profitability in industries from steel to solar energy and electric cars.
Authorities are also looking for ways to boost domestic consumption to reduce reliance on foreign demand in the long run amid rising rivalry with the US.
The government this week unveiled a plan to subsidize part of the interest payments on some consumer loans, after announcing earlier it would gradually waive preschool fees to ease education costs and offer childcare subsidies for families across the nation.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
RSS