What do you think of China economy in the first quarter？ Interpretation of the authority of 10 directors of the National Bureau of Statistics
According to preliminary accounting, China’s GDP decreased by 6.8% in the first quarter. With the overall promotion of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, the decline of major economic indicators in March was significantly narrowed. What do you think of China economy in the first quarter? Ten directors of the National Bureau of Statistics give you an authoritative interpretation →
Zhao Tonglu, Director of the National Economic Accounting Department of the National Bureau of Statistics: The long-term positive development trend has not changed due to the impact of the epidemic.
In the first quarter, in the face of the severe impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, all localities and departments strengthened the prevention and control of the epidemic, promoted the resumption of work and production, and promoted the restoration of normal economic and social order. Although the economy experienced negative growth due to the impact of the epidemic, some areas of people’s livelihood security and new kinetic energy still maintained growth or even rapid growth, and the overall economy was showing a recovery momentum, indicating that the long-term positive trend of China’s economy has not changed.
The impact of the epidemic situation appeared, and the economy experienced negative growth.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, China’s GDP in the first quarter was 20,650.4 billion yuan, which was 6.8% lower than the same period of last year at constant prices. From the ring comparison, the GDP in the first quarter decreased by 9.8% after the adjustment of seasonal factors.
The production and living order has been accelerated and some areas of people’s livelihood security have grown steadily.
In terms of industries, in the first quarter, affected by animal husbandry, the added value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery decreased by 2.8% compared with the same period of last year, but the added value of agriculture (planting) increased by 3.5%, and summer grain grew better. The transportation, warehousing and postal services were affected by the decrease in personnel flow during the epidemic prevention and control period, and the added value decreased by 14.0% year-on-year. However, with the acceleration of resumption of work and production, the traffic vitality is gradually returning to normal, and the logistics situation is obviously improved. In March, the year-on-year growth rate of freight turnover and passenger turnover in China was 9.9 and 14.3 percentage points higher than that of last month, respectively. The monetary policy was flexible, the credit policy was adjusted, the capital market operated effectively, the securities market was stable, and the added value of the financial industry increased by 6.0% year-on-year, maintaining the growth trend. Online meetings, online transactions, online education and other services to promote information transmission, software and information technology increased by 13.2% year-on-year, achieving rapid growth. In the first quarter, the state spent 137.2 billion yuan on health and epidemic prevention, hospitals and primary medical and health organizations. At the same time, it increased spending on social security, emergency management, aid and assistance, and other service industries, including the above areas, saw a limited decline.
Consumption has been restrained and the recovery trend is gradually emerging.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, in the first quarter, the three major demands all declined to varying degrees, which led to negative economic growth. Among them, the final consumption expenditure drove GDP down by 4.4 percentage points. The per capita consumption expenditure of the national residents actually decreased by 12.5%, and the government increased the expenditure on epidemic prevention and control. The financial expenditures related to government consumption expenditure, such as general public services, national defense, public safety, education and health, decreased only slightly year-on-year. Although the epidemic has had a great impact on residents’ consumption, and residents’ consumption has been restrained, the domestic consumer market has great demand potential and the long-term situation is stable and improving. In March, the decline of total retail sales of social consumer goods narrowed by 4.7 percentage points compared with January-February, showing a recovery trend. At the same time, the government has increased expenditure on people’s livelihood security such as health and promoted the resumption of work and production in various fields, which has played an important role in stabilizing domestic demand and releasing the demand potential of the domestic market.
Innovation plays a significant driving role, and the new kinetic energy field is growing against the trend.
Emerging industries are active, and new kinetic energy continues to grow, showing strong vitality and motivation. In the first quarter, although the number of working days decreased by 7.1% compared with the same period of last year, some emerging industries still achieved more than expected results in limited working days, and even achieved contrarian growth.
In the first quarter, the added value of pharmaceutical manufacturing in high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 10.4% year-on-year in March, achieving a contrarian growth. In January and February, the emerging service industry supported by modern Internet information technology was active, and the operating income of Internet and related services, software and information technology services increased by 10.1% and 0.7% respectively over the same period of last year.
In the first quarter, the growth rate of online retail sales accelerated, and the online retail sales of physical goods nationwide increased by 5.9% over the same period of last year, which was 24.9 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods in the same period, accounting for 23.6% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, which was 5.4 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.
Li Suoqiang, Director of the Rural Department of the National Bureau of Statistics:
The growth of summer grain is generally good, and the production capacity of pigs continues to recover.
The growth of summer grain is generally good, and the planting area of early rice is expanded.
Winter wheat is the main grain crop in summer harvest. At present, the growth of wheat has entered jointing, heading and flowering stage from north to south, and the growth and development of wheat is relatively fast. According to the results of remote sensing monitoring, the growth of winter wheat in late March was better than that in the previous year and all the year round. Good seedling conditions lay a good foundation for a bumper harvest of summer grain. The main early rice producing areas strengthened the implementation of various reward and compensation measures, encouraged and supported early rice production, and the sown area of early rice was significantly expanded, reversing the decline for seven consecutive years.
Animal husbandry production declined, and pig production capacity continued to recover.
Affected by the African swine fever epidemic and the superimposed impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, animal husbandry production declined in the first quarter. In the first quarter, the national output of pig, cattle, sheep and poultry meat was 18.13 million tons, down by 4.39 million tons or 19.5% compared with the same period of last year, of which the output of pork decreased by 4.26 million tons, which was the main factor affecting the decline of animal husbandry production. But the production of eggs and milk has increased.
Grain prices were basically stable, and the price of live pigs dropped from the previous month.
In the first quarter, the producer price of grain decreased by 0.6% compared with the same period of last year, in which wheat and rice were abundant in stock and sufficient in market supply, the producer price decreased by 5.2% and 3.6% respectively, and corn increased slightly by 0.3%; Vegetable producer prices rose by 9.4%; The price of fruit producers fell by 6.0%; The producer price of live pigs rose by 133.2%, driving the producer price of live cattle and live sheep to rise by 17.5% and 10.7% respectively. From the monthly price of bazaars, with the continuous recovery of pig production capacity, the increase of reserve frozen pork ensured the market supply, and the price of live pigs fell from the previous month. The price of live pigs in March decreased by 4.1% compared with that in February.
Zhang Weihua, Deputy Director of Industry Department of National Bureau of Statistics:
Resume work and production, accelerate the obvious recovery of industrial production
Since March, industrial production has obviously recovered, and the growth rate of some regions, industries and products has turned from negative to positive, and the industrial economy is showing positive changes.
The operating rate has obviously improved, and the industrial production in March is close to the same level of last year.
Industrial enterprises are close to full operation. According to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, as of April 9, the operating rate of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 97.2%, an increase of 18.9 percentage points over the end of February. The level of enterprises’ resumption of production has obviously rebounded. Among the enterprises that started construction, the production level of half enterprises exceeded 80% of the normal level, and that of 80% enterprises exceeded 50% of the normal level, both of which were significantly higher than the end of February.
The decline in industrial production has narrowed significantly. In the first quarter, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size decreased by 8.4% year-on-year, a decrease of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 5.1 percentage points in February. Especially in March, the industrial added value decreased by 1.1% year-on-year, a decrease of 1-mdash; In February, it narrowed by 12.4 percentage points, and the scale of industrial output was close to that of the same period last year.
Medical and epidemic prevention, daily necessities and basic materials products grew rapidly, and epidemic prevention and control and stable economic and social operation were strongly guaranteed.
Anti-epidemic materials such as medicines and medical devices have grown rapidly. In March, the added value of the pharmaceutical industry increased by 10.4% year-on-year. In February, it decreased by 12.3%; The output of masks increased by more than 6 times year-on-year, and alcohol increased by 28.3%, both of which were faster than 1-mdash; It picked up obviously in February, and medical instruments and equipment increased by 83.4%, 1-mdash; In February, it fell by 0.6%.
The growth rate of daily necessities has accelerated. In March, the added value of the food manufacturing industry increased by 5.7% year-on-year. In February, it decreased by 18.2%. Basic materials, products and agricultural means of production grew steadily. In March, coal and natural gas increased by 9.6% and 11.2% respectively, and the production of basic raw materials such as steel and ten kinds of non-ferrous metals was stable.
The production of high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries rebounded significantly, and emerging products continued to grow rapidly.
High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing rebounded the fastest. In March, the added value of high-tech manufacturing increased by 8.9% year-on-year. In February, it decreased by 14.4%. The added value of the equipment manufacturing industry decreased by 3.6% year-on-year, with a sharp decrease of 20.4 percentage points.
Some emerging products maintained rapid growth. In March, electronic products such as smart watches, 3D printing equipment, integrated circuit wafers, servers and semiconductor discrete devices continued to maintain a high-speed growth trend, with year-on-year growth rates of 112.8%, 86%, 79.7%, 68.3% and 66.9% respectively. New materials such as ultra-white glass, high-performance chemical fiber and high-temperature alloy for solar energy industry increased by 49%, 44% and 37.9% respectively.
The export of industrial products increased against the trend, and the export of anti-epidemic related materials accelerated.
Enterprise export delivery value achieved growth. In March, industrial enterprises above designated size achieved export delivery value growth of 3.1%, 1-mdash; In February, it decreased by 19.1%. In the context of the current sharp decline in international trade, it is very rare for exports to achieve contrarian growth.
The export of anti-epidemic related materials accelerated. In March, the pharmaceutical industry export delivery value increased by 17.4% year-on-year, 1-mdash; In February, it fell by 10.6%. The export of anti-epidemic materials has provided strong support for alleviating the global shortage of anti-epidemic materials and supporting the international community in fighting the epidemic.
On the whole, the current industrial production has obviously recovered, and the industrial economy is showing positive and positive changes. However, affected by the epidemic, the situation facing the industrial economy is still grim. In the next stage, we should accurately implement various measures to resume work and production, strive to restore the order of production and life, and promote the industrial economy to return to the track of stable operation.
Liu Wenhua, Director of Energy Statistics Department of National Bureau of Statistics:
The structure of adequate energy supply continued to be optimized.
In the first quarter of this year, the war in China’s energy sector promoted production, and the momentum of resuming production and increasing production was good. The energy import increased rapidly and the energy supply was stable and sufficient, which provided a solid guarantee for fighting the COVID-19 epidemic and restoring production and living order; The energy structure continues to be optimized, and the overall demand is weak.
Energy production has recovered well.
In the first quarter, industrial energy production above designated size was generally stable. Look at the varieties:
Rapid recovery of raw coal production. All localities have actively promoted the resumption of work and production, and the main raw coal producing areas and major raw coal producing enterprises such as Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Xinjiang have basically resumed production and reached production, fully ensuring the supply of raw coal.
Oil and gas production maintained rapid growth. Oil and gas production enterprises increase supply and actively release high-quality production capacity.
Power production has declined. Affected by the epidemic situation and the superposition of warm winters, the demand for electricity is suppressed. Although the power production speed has decreased due to weak demand, in absolute terms, the power generation in the first quarter is still slightly higher than that in 2017— The average level of the same period in 2019.
Energy imports grew rapidly.
In order to ensure the energy demand during the epidemic period, China has actively promoted the resumption and increase of production of domestic energy enterprises, while continuing to increase energy imports. According to the data of the Express of the General Administration of Customs, coal imports increased rapidly in the first quarter of this year, with imports of 95.78 million tons, up 28.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 30.2 percentage points faster than the same period of last year.
The energy structure continued to be optimized.
In the first quarter, new energy power generation maintained rapid growth, and its proportion increased, and the power supply structure continued to be optimized. The proportion of new energy power generation such as nuclear power, wind power and solar power generation in industrial power generation above designated size was 13.3%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over the same period of last year. At the same time, energy consumption continues to maintain a clean and low-carbon trend.
Du Xishuang, Director of Service Statistics Department of National Bureau of Statistics:
There was a marked improvement in service industry production in March.
Although 1-mdash; In February, the service industry fell sharply, but in March, many indicators of the service industry tended to improve, new kinetic energy went against the trend, market confidence gradually recovered, and work resumed in an orderly manner.
The decline in service industry production narrowed in March.
Affected by the epidemic, in the first quarter, the added value of the service industry reached 12,268 billion yuan, down 5.2% year-on-year. With the steady progress of resumption of work, the service industry production index in March decreased by 9.1% year-on-year, a decrease of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 3.9 percentage points in February.
The new kinetic energy of service industry is against the trend
Since the outbreak, catering, shopping, tourism, offline entertainment and other clustered and contact service industries have been greatly affected, but the emergence and development of new kinetic energy in the service industry relying on new technologies such as big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence have accelerated, which has provided strong support for ensuring people’s basic living needs and helping enterprises to resume work and production.
Service industry accelerates digital upgrading in the fight against "epidemic". Fresh food distribution, online education, telecommuting, online medical care and other new economies are developing rapidly, 1-mdash; In February, the national mobile Internet access traffic reached 23.5 billion GB, a year-on-year increase of 44.2%.
The investment and trade structure of service industry continued to be optimized.
In the first quarter, although the investment in high-tech service industry decreased by 9.0% year-on-year, the decline was 4.5 percentage points lower than the total investment in service industry. The actual use of foreign capital in high-tech service industry increased by 15.5% year-on-year, among which information services, e-commerce services and professional technical services increased by 28.5%, 62.4% and 95% respectively. Knowledge-intensive service trade shows strong impact resistance.
Peng Yongtao, Director of Investment Department of National Bureau of Statistics:
In the first quarter, investment rebounded month by month.
In the first quarter, although the growth rate of investment dropped a lot, the decline rate has been obviously narrowed, and investment in some areas of people’s livelihood security and some high-tech fields has increased. Under the dual effects of policy support and further strengthening of investment project construction, the trend of investment recovery began to appear.
The decline in investment has narrowed significantly.
In the first quarter, the national investment in fixed assets decreased by 16.1% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 8.4 percentage points in February.
In terms of regions, in the first quarter, the decline in investment in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions narrowed by 7.9, 4.9, 14.2 and 4.7 percentage points respectively compared with that in January and February; Four provinces in China have achieved positive growth, compared with 1-mdash; Three were added in February.
The decline in investment in the three major areas has narrowed to varying degrees.
In the first quarter, infrastructure investment decreased by 19.7% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 10.6 percentage points in February. Among them, the decline in investment in transportation and postal services narrowed by 9.8 percentage points, the decline in investment in water conservancy management industry narrowed by 14.9 percentage points, and the decline in investment in public facilities management industry narrowed by 11.6 percentage points.
In the first quarter, investment in real estate development decreased by 7.7%, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 8.6 percentage points in February.
Investment in some areas of people’s livelihood security has increased.
In the first quarter, investment in social fields decreased by 8.8% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; In February, it narrowed by 11.2 percentage points, 7.3 percentage points smaller than the total investment. Among them, education investment decreased by 4.0%, and the decline narrowed by 17.8 percentage points; Health investment decreased by 0.9%, narrowing the decline by 10.3 percentage points.
The growth rate of investment in some high-tech fields has changed from negative to positive or maintained rapid growth.
In the first quarter, investment in high-tech industries decreased by 12.1% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; In February, it narrowed by 5.8 percentage points, which was 4.0 percentage points smaller than the total investment.
The decline in private investment has slowed down.
In the first quarter, private investment decreased by 18.8% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; It narrowed by 7.6 percentage points in February. Among them, the decline of private investment in infrastructure narrowed by 13.5 percentage points, that in manufacturing narrowed by 5.8 percentage points, that in real estate development narrowed by 8.9 percentage points, that in social fields narrowed by 5.0 percentage points, and that in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery narrowed by 9.7 percentage points.
Lin Tao, Director of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of the National Bureau of Statistics:
Market sales tend to improve in March.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, 1-mdash; In February, the short-term decline of the consumer goods market was obvious. In March, the market sales began to improve, the transformation and upgrading of the consumer market continued to advance, and the development of emerging formats accelerated.
Market sales have recovered, and the process of enterprises returning to work has accelerated.
Consumption replenishment and potential release have initially appeared. Since the outbreak in COVID-19, residents have greatly reduced their shopping and dining activities, which has a great impact on the consumer market in the short term. As the national epidemic prevention and control situation continues to improve, the emergency response level has been lowered in many places, the production and living order has been restored in an orderly manner, some consumption has been replenished, and the market vitality has gradually picked up. In March, the total retail sales of social consumer goods decreased by 15.8% year-on-year, with a decrease ratio of 1-mdash; In February, it narrowed by 4.7 percentage points, and after deducting the price factor, it actually fell by 18.1%, narrowing by 5.6 percentage points.
Take multiple measures to promote enterprises to resume work and market. According to the results of a quick survey by the National Bureau of Statistics, as of April 9, the operating rate of wholesale and retail enterprises above designated size exceeded 95%, and the operating rate of accommodation and catering enterprises exceeded 85%, which were significantly higher than the end of February by more than 20 and 50 percentage points respectively.
The urban and rural markets rebounded simultaneously, and some formats maintained growth.
From the perspective of business locations, sales in urban and rural markets improved in March. In March, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 2,297.4 billion yuan, down 15.9% year-on-year. It narrowed by 4.8 percentage points in February; The retail sales of rural consumer goods was 347.6 billion yuan, down by 15.1%, and the decline was 0.8 percentage points smaller than that of the urban market, compared with 1-mdash; It narrowed by 3.9 percentage points in February.
From the retail format, in the retail with shops, the self-service retail formats such as supermarkets and community retail stores closely related to basic life are better than the whole.
The sales of most commodities improved, and the decline of key commodities narrowed.
In March, among the 18 commodity categories above designated size, the retail ratio of 16 categories of commodities was 1-mdash; It improved in February, with 7 categories achieving positive growth. The growth rate of basic living goods has accelerated, the decline of travel goods has narrowed significantly, the sales of residential goods have improved, and the sales of some consumption upgrading goods have improved.
The "home economy" has triggered the growth of digital economy, and the growth rate of online consumption and online commodity retail has accelerated.
The "home economy" has accelerated the development of new consumption and triggered the growth of digital economy, platform economy, network economy and information economy. During the epidemic prevention period, the demand for household consumption increased significantly. At the same time, in response to the impact of the epidemic, offline enterprises actively explored online sales business, and Internet sales grew against the trend. 1— In March, the online retail sales of physical goods nationwide increased by 5.9% year-on-year, with a growth rate of 1-mdash; In February, it accelerated by 2.9 percentage points, accounting for 23.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, an increase of 5.4 percentage points over the same period of last year. Among them, food and consumer goods sold through the Internet increased by 32.7% and 10.0% respectively year-on-year, with growth rates of 1-mdash respectively; It accelerated by 6.3 and 2.5 percentage points in February.
Logistics and transportation have recovered steadily, and the market supply is stable.
With the acceleration of the resumption of work, transportation and logistics are gradually restored, and the supply in the consumer market is generally sufficient. According to the data released by China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, the prosperity index of China’s logistics industry was 51.5% in March, up 25.3 percentage points from last month.
Zhang Yi, Director of the Department of Population and Employment Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics:
The employment situation has improved with the resumption of work and production, and there are foundations and conditions for maintaining stability under pressure.
In the first quarter, affected by the epidemic situation in COVID-19, the employment pressure increased obviously. However, as the epidemic situation continued to improve, the employment situation changed positively in March.
The impact of the epidemic increased the employment pressure, and the unemployment rate increased significantly in February.
In January, the national urban survey unemployment rate rose slightly by 0.1 percentage points from the previous month due to the Spring Festival. In February, affected by the epidemic, the consumption demand of some service industries dropped significantly, manufacturing enterprises stopped production more, and employment pressure increased significantly. In particular, individual industrial and commercial households and flexible employees have weak ability to resist risks and high unemployment risk.
With the acceleration of resumption of work and production, the unemployment rate declined in March.
As the situation of epidemic prevention and control continues to improve, the resumption of work and production is accelerated and expanded, the production and operation of enterprises are gradually restored, and consumer demand is gradually picking up, which has led to a rapid increase in employment. In March, the urban survey unemployment rate was 5.9%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. It is estimated that the number of employed people in cities and towns increased by more than 10% month-on-month, among which individual industrial and commercial households resumed their operations and flexible employment became active again, and the number of employed people increased by about 20% month-on-month.
Employment still has a strong foundation and conditions for maintaining stability under greater pressure.
In recent years, China’s employment has been under pressure, and the sudden outbreak of the epidemic, especially the current international epidemic, continues to spread, which has caused a significant decline in the domestic and international economy and further increased the employment pressure. However, judging from the factors affecting employment, China has a solid material foundation accumulated since the reform and opening up, and has great potential market demand, and the foundation of stable employment has not changed. At the same time, the service industry’s ability to absorb employment continues to increase, the sustained development of the new economy drives new jobs, and the continuous deepening of entrepreneurial innovation is conducive to maintaining employment stability.
Fang Xiaodan, Director of Household Survey Office of National Bureau of Statistics:
Under the influence of the epidemic situation, the basic livelihood of residents has been effectively guaranteed.
The wage income level is basically stable, which has played an important role in the small increase of residents’ nominal income.
In the first quarter, the per capita wage income of the national residents was 4,896 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.2% (this is the nominal growth rate, and the following growth rates are all nominal growth rates unless otherwise specified), which boosted the per capita disposable income of the national residents by 0.7 percentage points. Some contact industries, especially service industries, were greatly affected by the epidemic, and the wage income of employees declined. The wages of employees in the epidemic prevention and control industries such as health, electricity and heat, and people’s livelihood security industries have increased steadily, and jobs in industries such as education and public management have been basically stable. Before the Spring Festival, the state’s campaign to eradicate the unpaid wages of migrant workers achieved remarkable results, and some posts continued to pay wages without returning to work. The above-mentioned factors jointly promote the growth of wage income of national residents under the influence of unfavorable factors of the epidemic. The wage income remained basically stable, which to some extent offset the negative impact of the decline in residents’ operating income and played an important role in maintaining a small increase of 0.8% in nominal income of residents.
The rapid growth of transfer income has effectively guaranteed the basic livelihood of low-income groups, especially those in difficulty.
In the first quarter, the per capita net transfer income of the national residents was 1,548 yuan, an increase of 6.8%, which boosted the per capita disposable income of the national residents by 1.2 percentage points. In the first quarter, the per capita social relief and subsidy income of rural residents increased by 10.5%, and the per capita policy life of rural residents in subsidy income increased by 13.1%, which promoted the steady growth of rural residents’ transfer income.
Food consumption expenditure has increased steadily, and the basic livelihood of residents has been effectively guaranteed.
In the first quarter, the per capita expenditure on food, alcohol and tobacco was 1,708 yuan, an increase of 2.1%. The frequency of eating out by residents decreased, while the frequency of eating at home increased. The per capita food expenditure of residents at home increased by 15.5%, the consumption of rice, flour, grain and oil increased in an all-round way, the consumption of vegetables, meat, poultry and eggs increased rapidly, and the basic living consumption of residents was effectively guaranteed. Among them, per capita expenditure on vegetables increased by 20.8%, per capita expenditure on meat increased by 31.9%, per capita expenditure on poultry increased by 30.3%, and per capita expenditure on eggs increased by 24.4%.
Online consumption and healthy consumption grew rapidly, and the advantages of new consumption patterns appeared.
Although the epidemic has had a great impact on residents’ consumption of goods and services, online consumption and healthy consumption have grown rapidly, and the advantages of new consumption patterns have emerged. In the first quarter, the number of people buying goods or services through the Internet increased by 21.2% year-on-year. In order to meet the social needs at home, the per capita communication service expenditure increased by 5.3%. The people’s awareness of health and epidemic prevention has been continuously enhanced, and health consumption expenditure has increased. The per capita expenditure on washing and sanitary products increased by 27.2%, while the per capita expenditure on dishwashers and disinfection cupboards increased by 13.5% and 25.1% respectively. The per capita expenditure on medical instruments and medicines increased by 3.8%, among which the expenditure on medical and health instruments such as masks increased significantly, increasing by 4.2 times.
Zhao Maohong, Director of Urban Department of National Bureau of Statistics:
In the first quarter, the CPI increase decreased month by month, and the PPI decreased steadily.
Structural price increase in the consumer sector
The increase of CPI dropped month by month. In the first quarter, CPI rose by 4.9% compared with the same period of last year, with an increase of 3.1 percentage points and 0.7 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of last year. On a monthly basis, the growth rate showed a downward trend month by month. In the first two months, CPI rose more, rising by 1.4% month-on-month and 5.4% year-on-year. In February, the month-on-month growth rate dropped to 0.8%, down to 5.2% year-on-year. In March, as the situation of epidemic prevention and control in China continued to improve, transportation and logistics gradually recovered, and market supply continued to improve. The CPI decreased by 1.2% from the previous month, and the year-on-year increase dropped to 4.3%.
The rise in food prices is the main factor pushing up the increase in CPI. In the first quarter, food prices rose by 20.3%, an increase of 18.1 percentage points over the same period of last year, which affected the CPI increase by about 4.09 percentage points, accounting for more than 80% of the total CPI increase. Food prices have risen a lot, mainly due to the superposition of African swine fever, the Spring Festival, especially the COVID-19 epidemic. In food, the price of pork rose by 122.5%, which affected the CPI by about 2.91 percentage points, accounting for about 60% of the total CPI increase.
Energy prices have declined. In the first quarter, affected by the fluctuation of international crude oil prices, the prices of gasoline and diesel both dropped by 3.6%, with the drop rate both increasing by 1.6 percentage points over the same period of last year. The prices of coal and liquefied petroleum gas for residents turned down from the same period last year, with a decrease of 0.9% and 0.6% respectively.
The core CPI is basically stable. In the first quarter, the core CPI excluding food and energy prices rose by 1.3%, which was 0.6 percentage point lower than the same period of last year and 0.1 percentage point lower than the fourth quarter of last year, and remained at a low level.
Prices in the production field have steadily declined.
PPI goes down month by month. In the first quarter, the epidemic had a great impact on industrial production, and the stage of productive demand was weak. The national PPI decreased from 0.2% in the same period last year to 0.6%, but the decline was 0.6 percentage points narrower than that in the fourth quarter of last year.
The price of oil-related industries fluctuated downward. Affected by factors such as the "price war" superimposed epidemic situation in major oil-producing countries, the international crude oil price fluctuated greatly, driving down the prices of domestic oil-related industries.
The prices of some key industries fell. In the first quarter, the price of ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry decreased by 1.4% year-on-year, due to the insufficient production rate of downstream enterprises and the suppression of real estate development investment.
Prices in other industries are mixed. During the epidemic prevention and control period, the supply of food and medical protective materials was relatively tight and the prices rose. In the first quarter, the price of agricultural and sideline food processing industry rose by 7.1% year-on-year, and the price of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry rose by 0.9%. The price of equipment manufacturing industry is generally stable.
Source: Economic Daily WeChat WeChat official account (ID: jjrbwx)
Reporter: Lin Huocan
Editor: Liu Xinwei
Editor: Blair
Producer: Chen Fabao