Chinese New Year Holidays, China's Industrial Output And Retail Sales Soar

The surge in China's industrial output was quite surprising because it occurred when most companies and workers were spending the Lunar New Year holidays. Meanwhile, Retail Sales remained solid following the shopping trend during the holiday season.

On Tuesday (15/March), China's National Bureau of Statistics released data on Industrial Production or industrial output which increased from 4.3 percent to 7.5 percent on an annual basis (Year-over-Year) in January-February. This figure managed to exceed the expectations of economists who predicted growth of only 3.9 percent.

The achievement of quite impressive industrial output is quite surprising. This is because China actually enters the Chinese New Year holiday season in January and February, where most companies close and lay off workers.

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Meanwhile, fixed asset investment data (Fixed Asset Investment) experienced a spike in growth from 4.9 percent to 12.2 percent in the same period. Data on China's business and investment sector which is calculated on a Year-to-Date basis is very satisfying because it is far above the forecast of a 5.0 percent increase. This achievement was supported by the manufacturing investment sub-index which increased 20.9 percent, followed by private investment and infrastructure investment which rose 11.4 percent and 8.1 percent respectively.

Solid Retail Sales, Sluggish Employment

Following data on industrial output and fixed asset investment, China's Retail Sales also experienced a significant increase on an annual basis. Unmitigated, the retail sales sector increased from 1.7 percent to 6.7 percent during the January-February period. This figure far exceeded economists' expectations for a rise of just 3.0 percent.

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Unfortunately, China's employment actually incised bad results. Data on the unemployment rate (Unemployment Rate) increased from 5.1 percent to 5.5 percent at the beginning of the year. The labor market is still a sector that faces many challenges. The Chinese government alone has set a target of creating 11 million jobs in urban areas for this year, after adding 12.69 million jobs last year.

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Responding to a series of Chinese economic reports this morning, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said, "Overall, China's economy is still gaining growth momentum in early 2022, although we have to admit that the dynamics that occur abroad are still complicated and severe. These conditions make the Chinese economy face many risks and challenges."