National Economic Performance of half year GDP in 2011, 2010, 2009 (RMB billion)

By Zhang Wen

China's gross domestic product (GDP) registered a year-on-year increase of 9.6% reaching almost 20.5 trillion yuan (3.2 trillion US dollars) in the first half of 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced this morning.

China’s GDP Growth was 11.1% in first Half of 2010.

China's GDP grew 9.5% in the second quarter, slower than first quarter growth of 9.7%, Sheng Laiyun, the NBS spokesman said.

Earlier, the government had set its annual economic growth target at around 8% for 2011.

In addition to aggregate economic growth figures, the NBS also reported on the country's agricultural output, industrial production growth, investment, retail sales and the income of urban and rural residents.

Agricultural production maintained steady growth. It’s estimated that the country’s summer grain harvest will exceed 126 million tons, an increase of 3.12 million tons, or 2.5%, from the same period last year. The total output of pork, beef and mutton in the first half of 2011 was 37.22 million tons, up 0.2% from the same period last year. But pork output was down by 0.5% to 24.43 million tons.

In the first half of 2011, the industrial value added by large-scale industrial enterprises - referring to enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 20 million yuan - increased by 14.3 percent over the same period last year, the NBS said.

In addition, the sales-output ratio of large-scale industrial enterprises reached 97.8% in the first half of 2011, up 0.1 percentage point from same period last year.

Fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) rose to 12.5 trillion yuan in the first six months, up 25.6 percent from a year earlier.

Property investment grew to 2.63 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, up 32.9 percent from a year earlier, the NBS said.

China's retail sales maintained a rapid growth in the first half of the year. The total volume of retail sales was 8.6 trillion yuan, up 16.8% from same period last year. 

China's auto sales in the first half of the year rose 15% from a year earlier, 22.1 percentage points lower than the rapid growth rate witnessed over the same period last year. Furniture sales were up 30%, down 8.5 percentage points on the pace of growth registered during the same period last year. The growth in home appliance sales also slowed, with sales climbing 21.5 percent in the past 6 months, 7.3 percentage points lower than during the first half of 2010.

Income of urban and rural residents maintained steady growth. In the first half of 2011, per capita annual income of urban residents was 12,076 yuan. The disposable per capita income was 11,041 yuan up 13.2% from same period last year. The real increase was 7.6% if inflation is taken into account.

 The per capita annual income (in terms of cash) of rural residents was 3,706 yuan, up 20.4%. The real increase was 13.7% when you factor in inflation. 

The economic data that was announced this morning, was originally planned to be released on Jul 15, but in keeping with a recent NBS decision to reduce the time between when statistics are calculated and when they are announced, the announcement was brought forward.

Links and Sources

 Data in top table: State Council Information Office

National Bureau of Statistics: Economy Maintained Steady and Fast Growt
h