Mubasher: Chinese industrial output growth recorded its slowest pace in 17 years and a half during August, suggesting that a slowdown in the world’s second biggest economy deepened amid an ongoing trade conflict with the US.
China’s value-added industrial output, a major economic indicator, rose by 4.4% last August, compared with a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
While this marked a decline from the annual rate of 4.8% in July, it was the slowest pace observed since February 2002.
The value of the outbound industrial shipments dropped by 4.3% year-on-year, the first monthly fall since two years, as per shown by Reuters records.
It is worth noting that last month saw escalation between the US and China with President Donald Trump announcing new tariffs on Chinese products, while Beijing allowed the yuan (CNY) slip sharply days later.
In addition, China retaliated with tariffs, to which President Trump replied with a decision to hike existing duties in October and December.
While both nations are holding face-to-face negotiations in early October, expectations are not totally for a durable trade pact, or even a breakthrough de-escalation.
The disappointing August data further added to the signs of a broad-based weakness, with retail sales and credit gauges worsening.
China’s retail sales slowed down to 7.5% last month, compared with 7.6% in the preceding month.
Auto sales sustained an extended slump across the whole year, while retail sales, less vehicles, climbed by 9.3% on an annualised basis.
In addition, fixed-asset investment rose 5.5% on year during the first eight months of the year, from 5.7% in the period between January and July.
Nevertheless, investment in the real estate segment picked up, with property investment accelerating at the fastest pace since four months owing to a sales upturn.
Infrastructure investment, a major catalyst of growth, rose at 4.2% in the period between January and August, up from 3.8% in the period between January and July.
By 7:26 am GMT, the USD/CNY pair declined by 0.13% to CNY 7.0697.
