Employees work on a battery production line at Jiangsu Yongda Power Supply Co., Ltd. On March 26, 2024 in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China.
VCG | China Optical Group | Getty Images
BEIJING – China's economy finished the first quarter of the year on a “strong” note, according to a business survey published by China Page Book on Thursday.
“The economy clearly improved in March, thanks to improved industrial activity and strong retail spending,” said Shehzad Qazi, chief operating officer of China Beige Book, a US-based research firm.
Chinese official data on retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment for January and February beat expectations across the board. Figures for the first two months of the year are usually reported together to account for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which follows the agricultural calendar.
China Big Book said it surveyed 1,436 companies from March 1 to 23, roughly divided between state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises.
“China Big Book data for March shows that the economy is poised for a strong end to the first quarter,” the report said. “Revenue growth accelerated higher than last month while pricing gains boosted margins.”
The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release first-quarter data on April 16.
China announced earlier this month that it aims to achieve growth of about 5% this year. Some analysts said it was an ambitious target given the current level of announced government stimulus.
The China Big Book found that companies have pulled back on their borrowing due to rising interest rates, but they have also noticed signs of a pause on the lending side.
“Market watchers have largely missed the significant policy easing we have tracked over the past year, and now some lenders may be hitting the brakes,” the report said.
Employment is improving
“Employment recorded the longest period of improvement since late 2020,” the report said, noting that every sector except services saw a rebound in job growth.
The report said retail spending rose in all sub-sectors, with the exception of luxury goods.
In the real estate sector, the report said that while the residential sector still showed a decline in sales, commercial and construction sales improved significantly.
The report said that manufacturing witnessed growth in production and domestic orders compared to February, but export orders decreased.
Official data showed that investment in real estate decreased by 9% in the first two months of the year compared to last year. Investment in infrastructure rose by 6.3% during that period, while manufacturing saw a 9.4% increase.
