00:00China's industrial production picked up in August, helped by the AI boom and resilient export demand.
00:07Domestic consumption and investment, though, showed signs of weakness,
00:11prompting Beijing to pledge further measures to stimulate demand and find new sources of growth.
00:16Industrial output rose 5.2 percent. That was up from 4.5 percent in July,
00:23with manufacturing and energy supply continuing to drive expansion.
00:27But shoppers are keeping their wallets firmly in their pockets.
00:32Retail sales growth slowed to 0.4 percent in August. That's from 0.6 percent in July.
00:39Fixed asset investment fell 7.2 percent year on year in the first eight months.
00:44Officials blame extreme weather, weaker external demand and the bumpy transition towards new sources of growth.
00:52High tech investment, meanwhile, is going from strength to strength.
00:57Spending on AI-related information services jumped 22.7 percent between January and August.
01:04Electronic circuit manufacturing surged 58.8 percent, while lithium battery production rose 20.6 percent.
01:14Meanwhile, the jobless rate rose to 5.3 percent in August as a new wave of college graduates entered the
01:21job market.
01:22But the tech sector continues to add jobs at quite a rapid pace.
01:28Shaolin Chen is the head of international Crane Shares.
01:32And it's always a pleasure to have you on the program.
01:34Look, high tech and robotics have been outperforming for a while now.
01:39What's different about this month's numbers or is this just a continuation of a trend?
01:45Thank you for having me on your program.
01:47It is more and more data evidence.
01:50This is a more of a established trend.
01:53But all this data clearly shows that it's getting further momentum.
01:57Like you pointed out earlier on, it's becoming more broadly rooted in the industrial economy.
02:02Overall, like you said, the output grown 5.2 percent.
02:05But if you look at the real standouts in this picture is the robotic production up nearly 35 percent, 3D
02:13printing equipments.
02:14And you also mentioned batteries all up double digits.
02:17So this is not really a general manufacturing pickups.
02:21It reflects investment and demands in automation, electrification, digital technology and more sophisticated equipments.
02:29China is continuing to move up the value chain.
02:32Robotics in particular matter because they help productivities across a wider industry base.
02:38So not only in the robotic mix themselves.
02:40So this is a longer term growth story, more efficient productions, more technological capabilities and stronger competitiveness in global markets.
02:49So all of these new growth drivers you're talking about together, they account for more than 60 percent of industrial
02:55outputs rise.
02:57Is that what you're saying is to be a structural shift or is it just a strong month?
03:02I think you're saying it's a real change.
03:05This is a real change.
03:06China faced the challenge to find the new growth driver.
03:09I think over nearly 12 months of the efforts of the, remember last year, September, the policy bazooka moment to
03:17now, they have successfully developed more growth driver or growth engine for this economy.
03:22We see more data, evidences show this is more a structural shift given the high tech, high technology.
03:29All continue to be, you know, the driver and the key component to drive exports and also internal supplies.
03:36So we are very pleased to see that China developed more drivers in the economic sense.
03:41But this is definitely ways the policy support, ways the data shows now month and shows how China developed.
03:48This is more of a coming on the structural side from China.
03:51But Xiaolin, retail sales, the growth has slowed again.
03:55Property remains a drag.
03:57Investment keeps falling.
03:58Consumers just aren't finding their confidence back.
04:01Can factories alone carry this economy?
04:04A factory alone can provide the support and resiliency to give the consumers the confidence of their income continue to
04:12look more promising.
04:14That's one which is a commodity needed with the policy aside, ready to plug in at any time that the
04:20market needed.
04:21And with all these additional economic drivers that China just developed over just a short period of time of 12
04:28to 18 months, that allows some very necessarily cushion to allow this economy to adjust with this unbalanced to allow
04:38the consumption to recover.
04:40Always a pleasure.
04:41Thank you so much, Xiaolin Shen.
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