City's economy performs strongly in first 7 months of the year

Shanghai's economy showed a healthy performance in the first seven months of the year, with key sectors, including foreign trade, retail and fixed-asset investment, showing strong growth.

Foreign trade in July grew for a 14th consecutive month.

Industrial production of enterprises above "designated size" – those with an annual main business income of over 20 million yuan (US$3 million) – topped 307.78 billion yuan last month, an increase of 0.3 percent year on year, the city's statistics bureau said.

From January to July, the city realized a total of 1.04 trillion yuan in retail sales of consumer goods, up 26.5 percent over the same period last year.

The retail and wholesale sector surged 24.9 percent to over 954 billion yuan, while the accommodation and catering industry saw retail sales of more than 88 billion yuan, rocketing up 45.8 percent.

Fixed-asset investment in the first seven months rose 9.8 percent from a year earlier, while the paid-in value of investment in the city soared 16.2 percent.

Of the three major investment areas, urban infrastructure investment increased 10.5 percent year on year, industrial investment grew 8.8 percent, and real estate development investment was 10.3 percent higher.

Foreign trade, in which Shanghai leads the nation, posted total imports and exports of 2.21 trillion yuan in January-July, a leap of 17.5 percent from a year earlier.

Exports rose 10 percent to 836 billion yuan, while imports shot up 22.6 percent to 1.38 trillion yuan.

The single-month figure also saw an increase of 9.2 percent, to more than 328 billion yuan, marking the 14th consecutive month of growth, according to the Shanghai Customs bureau.

Customs said nearly 60 percent of imports and exports were in general trade.

In the first seven months, Shanghai's general imports and exports were 1.28 trillion yuan, up 26.6 percent and accounting for 57.7 percent of the city's total foreign trade.

Slight declines in foreign trade were seen in two categories: imports of integrated circuits which has been the largest category of imported goods, and exports of labor-intensive products.

Exports of automobiles and imports of diamonds both more than doubled in the seven months.

The Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index, the two main inflationary measures, both rose in July from a year earlier but stayed within a reasonable range.