BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China's economy grew 6.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2019, which fell within the year's stated growth target range of between 6 percent and 6.5 percent, according to the data released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The following are major data and facts about China's economic performance in the first half.
-- China's summer grain output stood at 141.74 million tonnes in 2019, up 2.1 percent year on year and equal to the all-time high in 2017.
--China's industrial output expanded 6 percent year on year in H1, with the expansion in June quickening by 1.3 percentage points from May to 6.3 percent.
-- The output of the service industry jumped by seven percent to 24.77 trillion yuan (3.61 trillion U.S. dollars) in H1. The production index of the service sector in June was 0.1 percentage points higher than that in May.
-- Retail sales of consumer goods rose by 8.4 percent year on year in the first half to 19.52 trillion yuan. In June, retail sales surged by 9.8 percent year on year to 3.39 trillion yuan, 1.2 percentage points higher than in the previous month.
-- Fixed-asset investment grew by 5.8 percent year on year in H1, 0.2 percentage points faster than the growth in the first five months.
-- Total foreign trade volume reached 14.67 trillion yuan in H1, up 3.9 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points faster than the growth in Q1. Considering the impact of trade frictions, import and export figures were better than expected.
-- China's job market remained stable in June, with the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas standing at 5.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous month.
-- Prices remained stable, with the consumer price index (CPI) rising moderately by 2.2 percent year on year for the first half of this year, while the producer price index (PPI) increased by 0.3 percent year on year during the same period.
-- The inflation-adjusted growth of per capita disposable income was 6.5 percent, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 6.3-percent growth rate for the Chinese economy in H1, while the urban-rural income gap further narrowed.
-- Industrial restructuring has quickened, with high-tech industries expanding fast. NBS data showed that the output for high-tech manufacturing rose by 9 percent year on year in H1, three percentage points faster than the overall industrial growth.
-- Agricultural planting structure also improved as economic crops such as soybeans took up more planting areas.
-- On the demand side, the role of consumption was further consolidated as it contributed 60.1 percent to GDP growth in the first half.
-- Investment structure was optimized, with social sectors, high-tech and technical transformation of the manufacturing industry all posting a rise of more than 10 percent in investment expansion.
-- Regional structure has improved thanks to the coordinated advancement in regional development strategies. The aggregate industrial output of central regions, for instance, increased by 8.4 percent year on year, 3.5 percentage points faster than that in the eastern region.
