China Factories Encounter Large downward Pressures

The industrial economy still hasn’t seen a substantial recovery because of the global epidemic, deteriorating trade growth, lack of consumer demand, and other factors, Luo Junjie told reporters.

Luo said in Mandarin that on top of that, recently, the COVID-19 has spread to many places. In the first quarter of the year, the industrial economy still meets immense downward pressure.

In late December, the highly transmissible coronavirus omicron variant entered the country. Hence, local Chinese authorities placed more lockdowns and travel restrictions to prevent coronavirus outbreaks from spreading.

These recent lockdowns would only have a short-term and narrow impact on supply chains. Tian Yulong, chief engineer and another spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, informed reporters Thursday at the same press event.

On Monday, China said fourth-quarter GDP growth of 4% beat economists’ anticipations, with industrial production and fixed asset investment measures also arriving in above forecasts. But retail sales cut and the National Bureau of Statistics again cautioned the “triple pressure” on growth from contracting demand, supply shocks, and weakening expectations.

Chip Deficiency Will Last for A While

The industry ministry’s Luo counted that although the shortage in semiconductors has reduced, supply will stay tight for a while. He is also the director of the bureau for monitoring and coordinating operations.

As stated in official data published Monday, China’s semiconductor production increased by 33% in 2021 from a year ago. December’s chip production is higher 1.9% year-on-year to 29.9 billion units. Auto production increased by 3.4% year-on-year in December, the first increase after April.

Read also: PrimoTrade Review 2021: All You Need To Know!