Industrial economy is operating stably and improving quality
——Interpretation of China Economic Semi-annual Report (middle) Our reporter Huang Xin and Li Pengda
In the first half of the year, my country's industrial economic operation showed a trend of stabilizing reinforcement, stabilizing quality improvement, and stabilizing improvement. The industrial structure continued to be optimized, and the level of high-quality development was further improved.
Data shows that the positive factors that support the sustained and stable recovery of the industrial economy have continued to accumulate, the resilience of my country's industrial system has been demonstrated, the market potential of domestic demand has been continuously stimulated, and the fundamentals of the long-term improvement of the industrial economy are still expanding.
The recovery situation is more consolidated
The data in the first half of the year showed that the stability, balance, and endogenous nature of industrial economic growth continued to increase.
In terms of stability, the value added of industries above designated size in the first half of the year increased by 15.9% year-on-year, with an average growth rate of 7% in two years.
The industrial capacity utilization rate reached 78.4% in the second quarter, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the first quarter.
At the same time, economic indicators such as industrial export delivery value and production-sales ratio are also at a relatively high level in recent years.
Especially in the first half of the year, the added value of the manufacturing industry increased by 17.1% year-on-year, becoming a ballast stone for the steady reinforcement of industrial production.
From the perspective of balance, in the first half of the year, 39 of the 41 major industrial sectors achieved growth, and the growth area reached more than 90%.
According to Liu Wenqiang, deputy dean of CCID Research Institute, the profit margin of petrochemical, chemical fiber, pharmaceutical, chemical, steel and other industries has increased by more than 4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
At the same time, the policy of expanding domestic demand to promote consumption has been effective, and investment to make up for shortcomings has increased, and the role of domestic demand in stimulating industrial growth has increased.
From an endogenous perspective, the dividends of various policies for helping enterprises and benefiting enterprises continue to show up, and market players have further recovered their vitality.
In the first five months, the total profits realized by industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 83.4% year-on-year, and the operating income profit margin reached a historically high level of 7.11%.
In the first half of the year, the added value of small and medium-sized industrial enterprises increased by 18% year-on-year, with an average growth rate of 8.1% over the two years.
It is worth noting that on the basis of the substantial increase in corporate profitability, manufacturing investment in the first half of the year increased by 19.2% year-on-year, indicating that market investment confidence continues to increase.
New momentum accelerates growth
Not only is it stable, but the operation of my country's industrial economy is steadily improving, the industrial structure continues to be optimized, the growth of new drivers is accelerated, and the level of high-quality development is further improved.
On the one hand, the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries has continued to increase.
In recent years, my country's traditional industries have continued to move toward high-end, intelligent, and green industries.
Zhang Xiaotong, chief engineer of the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, told reporters that with the "dual carbon" goal as the driving force, my country's traditional industrial environmental protection transformation and upgrading efforts continue to increase, the proportion of green renewable energy continues to increase, and the green industry is developing rapidly.
By consolidating the achievements of steel decapacity, in-depth implementation of intelligent manufacturing projects and industrial Internet innovation and development projects, the energy consumption per unit of industrial added value of enterprises above designated size in the first 5 months decreased by 5.7% year-on-year; the level of digitalization, networking, and intelligence in the manufacturing industry continued to improve .
On the other hand, new kinetic energy has accelerated its cultivation and growth, and the innovation and traction of new industries have continued to increase.
In the first half of the year, the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 22.6% year-on-year, and the two-year average growth rate reached 13.2%, which was significantly faster than the overall industry.
The output of new energy vehicles and industrial robots increased by 2.1 times and 69.8% respectively year-on-year. New industries in the digital economy such as big data, cloud computing, and blockchain are booming.
According to statistics, a total of 961,000 5G base stations have been opened in my country. As of the end of June, the number of 5G terminal connections was approximately 365 million, and 5G empowered industries to improve quality, efficiency, cost reduction, greenness, and safety.
Pan Helin, executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, believes that new kinetic energy has become the key to the development of my country's industrial economy, and low-carbon manufacturing, smart manufacturing and industrial Internet have become the main driving forces for my country's industrial development.
Positive factors continue to accumulate
At present, the positive factors supporting the sustained and stable recovery of my country's industrial economy are accumulating.
Liu Wenqiang believes that with the gradual popularization of the new crown vaccine and the steady recovery of the global economy, it will drive the rapid growth of my country's exports and expand more space for the industrial economy.
Zhang Xiaotong also said: "my country has continuously established and improved an enterprise-led industrial innovation ecosystem to promote the integration and development of large and medium-sized enterprises."
However, it should also be noted that the current international environment is still complex and severe, and issues such as rising commodity prices and chip shortages have brought new pressures to the recovery of industrial economic operations.
For example, since the beginning of the year, the prices of raw materials have risen sharply and fluctuated at high levels.
In the first half of the year, the producer price index (PPI) of industrial producers rose by 5.1% over the same period last year. In the second quarter, the year-on-year increase in PPI increased significantly, putting great pressure on the costs of mid- and downstream industries and related enterprises, squeezing the profit margins of enterprises.
Most small and medium-sized enterprises are located in the middle and lower reaches of the industrial chain, and their bargaining power is not strong, and it is difficult to absorb the pressure of price increase in a short period of time.
Will this round of commodity price increases last long?
Huang Libin, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Director of the Operation Monitoring and Coordination Bureau, believes that this round of price increases is more a result of the superposition of short-term factors, and deep-seated contradictions such as high global debt, polarization between the rich and the poor, and the aging population make it difficult for long-term expansion of demand. , And the possibility of a significant contraction in supply is also small, making it difficult to form a "super cycle."
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will cooperate with relevant departments to ensure the supply and price stabilization of bulk commodities, guide the upstream and downstream of the industry chain to stabilize the supply of raw materials and coordinate production, supply and marketing, and coordinate to respond to market price fluctuation risks.
It is foreseeable that as the new crown vaccination accelerates, the world economy is recovering steadily, household consumption continues to recover, the construction of new infrastructure is accelerated, and the power of cyclical economic recovery continues to increase. my country's industrial economic operation will continue to take advantage of the trend and stabilize and improve.
——Interpretation of the Semi-Annual Report of China's Economy (Part Two)