China's economic momentum slowed in July as factory output growth eased to 5.1 per cent year-on-year, down from June's 5.3 per cent pace. This signalled tepid domestic demand and added to calls for additional policy support to sustain the country's uneven recovery.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the official figures on August 15, 2024, which fell short of the anticipated 5.2 per cent increase projected by a Reuters poll of 42 analysts.
Despite the slowdown in industrial production, retail sales—a crucial measure of consumer spending—offered a glimmer of hope, rising 2.7 per cent in July, up from a 2.0 per cent increase in June. This exceeded analysts' expectations of a 2.6 per cent rise, suggesting that consumer activity may be gaining traction.
However, fixed asset investment, a key driver of infrastructure development and economic growth, expanded by only 3.6 per cent in the first seven months of 2024, underperforming the forecasted 3.9 per cent increase and marking a deceleration from the 3.9 per cent growth recorded in January-June.
This latest batch of economic data underscores the challenges facing China's $19 trillion economy as it navigates a rocky start to the second half of the year. With the government still aiming for approximately 5 per cent growth in 2024, the recent indicators have intensified demands for more robust measures to bolster economic expansion and stabilise the recovery.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's primary aluminium production in July 2024 hit a more than two-decade high, with producers ramping up operations, particularly in Yunnan. In the first seven months of 2024, China's primary aluminium output totalled 25.19 million tonnes of aluminium, registering a 6.7 per cent increase from a year earlier.
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