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CHINA-MARKET-WEEKLY
Biz China Weekly: Housing, services, retail sales, industrial output and
express delivery
BEIJING, Dec. 23, 2019 (BSS/Xinhua) – The following are the highlights of
China’s business news from the past week:
— HOUSING MARKET
Home prices in 70 major Chinese cities remained generally stable in
November, with new home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing,
Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou — up 0.6 percent month on month in
November, 0.5 percentage points faster than the previous month, according to
the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the first 11 months of the year, investment in property development grew
10.2 percent year on year. Commercial housing sales in terms of floor area
totaled 1.49 billion square meters from January to November, up 0.2 percent
year on year.
— SERVICE SECTOR
The production index of China’s service sector increased by 6.8 percent
year on year in November, compared with a rise of 6.6 percent in October, the
NBS data showed.
The sub-reading for information transmission, software and information
technology services expanded by 16.3 percent last month, while that for the
leasing and business services grew 11.8 percent.
The index measuring business activity in the service sector stood at 53.5
in November, up from 51.4 in October.
–RETAIL SALES
China’s retail sales of consumer goods rose 8 percent year on year in the
first 11 months of 2019, the NBS data showed.
In November alone, total amount of retail sales expanded 8 percent to hit
3.81 trillion yuan, with the pace of growth 0.8 percentage points faster from
October.
In the first 11 months, retail sales in rural areas rose 9 percent,
outpacing the 7.9-percent expansion in urban areas.
Online sales continued to report robust expansion, with a year-on-year
increase of 16.6 percent to stand at 9.5 trillion yuan.
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CHINA-MARKET-WEEKLY 2 LAST BEIJING
–INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT
China’s value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator,
expanded 5.6 percent year on year in the first 11 months. In November alone,
industrial output climbed 6.2 percent, up from 4.7 percent registered in
October.
The production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water
reported a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent in November, the fastest
among the three major sectors, which also include mining and manufacturing.
Manufacturing output rose 6.3 percent year on year, and mining output rose
5.7 percent.
High-tech manufacturing saw an output increase of 8.9 percent last month,
representing continued structural improvement from mere expansion to quality-
oriented growth.
–EXPRESS DELIVERY
China’s courier industry has delivered a total of 60 billion parcels in
2019 as of Monday morning, according to real-time monitoring data from the
State Post Bureau (SPB).
The figures indicate that the number of per capita express packages
exceeded 42 this year.
China’s express delivery market has posted continuous expansion in recent
years, with 20,000 express delivery enterprises and more than 3 million
employees, said Feng Lihu, spokesperson with the SPB.
Over 30,000 express delivery outlets have been set up in townships across
the country so far, covering 96 percent of all such localities, the SPB’s
data showed.
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