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1H machinery industry growth at 7-year low

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-28 16:49

BEIJING: China's machinery industry output expanded 7.28 percent year on year to 4.79 trillion yuan (about $701.3 billion) in the first half of 2009, the slowest growth in the past seven years, China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) said in a statement Tuesday.

The federation attributed the decline in growth to the country's slowed economy in the first six months, but it is confident that the growth in machinery industry would rebound in the second half as China's economy bottomed out.

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Latest data from the CMIF showed that the industry had witnessed a growing trend in the first six months since its gross industrial output growth shrank to 2.9 percent in the January-February period. In June, industrial output surged 11.65 percent year on year to more than one trillion yuan.

The country's machinery industry saw profits down 7.73 percent in the first five months from the same period last year to 189.8 billion yuan, compared to a 25.81 percent profit decline year on year in the first two months this year.

The federation predicted a 12-percent growth in gross industrial output and an eight percent growth in profit, as the country's economy is expected to pick up growth under the government's proactive fiscal policy and the relatively easy monetary policy, which would give rise to machinery demand, said Cai Weici, CMIF's vice chairman.

The supply of raw materials such as oil and steel products, together with supportive government policies for the equipment manufacturing and automotive industry, would boost the development of China's machinery industry in the second half, Cai said.

Weakening external demand is the major problem hampering the industry's recovery, as machinery exports dropped 24.11 percent to $89.15 billion year on year in the first half.

Chinese machinery manufacturing needed technical upgrading amid the shrinking global market to expand its market share, Cai said.