China's GDP Up 10.6% in First Three Quarters of 2010

China's gross domestic product (GDP) registered a year-on-year increase of 10.6 percent reaching 26.87 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday.

The growth rate was 2.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year, said NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun at a press conference.

The industrial value-added output for primary industry was up 4 percent, reaching 2.56 trillion yuan. Secondary industry was up 12.6 percent, reaching 12.93 trillion. Tertiary industry rose by 9.5 percent reaching 11.37 trillion in the first three quarters of 2010.

The output of pork, beef, mutton, poultry and other meat products was 2.6 percent higher than that of a year earlier, reaching 54.39 million yuan.

The report also showed that, the industrial value-added in large scale industry, including all state-owned enterprise and other industrial enterprises with yearly sales of more than 5 million yuan, was up by 16.3% year-on-year, 7.6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In addition, the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises - those with annual sales exceeding 5 million yuan - ammounted to 2.6 trillion yuan in the first eight months of the year, a 55 percent increase over last year.

Meanwhile, China's fixed-asset investment in the first three quarters rose 24 percent from a year earlier to reach 19.22 trillion yuan.

Sheng also said that urban fixed-asset investment rose to 16.59 trillion yuan in the first nine months, 24.5 percent up from a year earlier, while rural fixed-asset investment increased to 2.64 trillion yuan in the first nine months, up 20.5 percent from a year earlier.

Property investment grew 36.4 percent to 3.35 trillion yuan in the first nine months, the NBS said.

China's retail sales maintained rapid growth in the first three quarters of this year. In addition, retail sales grew 18.3 percent in the first nine months of the year from a year earlier, reaching 11.10 trillion yuan.

In terms of the consumption, sales experienced rapid growth; China's auto sales rose 34.9 percent in the first nine months of the year. Furniture sales were up 38.4 percent and home and video appliance sales climbed 28.1 percent.

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose an average of 2.9 percent in the first nine months. The statistics for September registered a 3.6 percent increase on the same period last year and increased 0.6 percent on August's figure.

The producer price index (PPI), another measure of inflation at the wholesale level, registered a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent in the first three quarters of this year.

According to Sheng, China's export growth rate has also increased. The NBS said exports and imports totaled 2.15 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 37.9 percent. Furthermore, exports in the first nine months grew 34.0 percent to 1.13 trillion US dollars, while the imports reached 1.01 trillion US dollars, up 42.4 percent from a year ago.

The NBS added that the income of China's urban and rural residents continued to increase in the first nine months of this year.

The per-capita disposable income of urban residents reached 14,334 yuan over the 9-month period from January to September, a year-on year increase of 10.5 percent. The actual growth was 7.5 percent after adjusting for inflation.

For rural residents, per-capita cash income totaled 4,869 yuan over the same 9-month perios, up 13.1 percent. The actual growth was 9.7 percent after adjusting for inflation.

This article was edited by Ruoji Tang

Links and Sources
National Bureau of Statistics of China: 3rd Quarter Economic Data 
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