Shanghai economy recovers in Q3 amid rising production, demand

Shanghai's economy recovered well in the third quarter from the slumps in the first half-year, with production and demand continuing to improve.

In the first three quarters, the city's gross domestic product added up to nearly 3.1 trillion yuan (US$423.45 billion), 1.4 percent lower than the same period last year (calculated at comparable prices) but narrowing from the year-on-year decline in January-June by 4.3 percentage points, according to the local statistics bureau.

The primary industry posted an added value of 5.574 billion yuan, down 0.7 percent from a year earlier; the figure for the secondary industry was 782.208 billion yuan, a decline of 4 percent year on year but narrowing by 9.7 percentage points compared with the first half; while for the tertiary industry, it was down 0.5 percent to 230.788 billion yuan.

Among major figures, industrial production of enterprises above designated size (those with annual main business revenues above 20 million yuan) topped 2.89 trillion yuan in January-September, dipping 1.5 percent from a year earlier but recovering from the 9.7 percent slump in the first half-year.

The bureau noted that the city's industrial output has maintained rapid growth for four straight months, among which the output in September hit a new record.

In the first three quarters, the three leading manufacturing industries, namely integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and bio-medicine, together contributed to an industrial production jump of 11.9 percent from a year earlier, outstripping overall industrial growth by 13.4 percentage points.

Digital economy-related indicators, meanwhile, also performed strongly, with the value-added output of the information transmission, software and information technology services industry jumping 6 percent year on year.

Shanghai's fixed asset investment in the first nine months also started to warm up, retreating 8.6 percent from a year earlier but largely narrowing from the 19.6 percent slump in the first six months.

From January to September, the city logged a total of 1.186 trillion yuan in retail sales of consumer goods, a decline of 10.7 percent over the same period last year but narrowing from the year-on-year decline in January-June by 5.4 percentage points.

By industry, wholesale and retail fell 9.4 percent to 1.1055 billion yuan in January-September, while the accommodation and catering industry saw retail sales of 80.925 billion yuan, plunging 24.8 percent, both largely narrowing from the declines in the first six months.

The city's financial market turnover, however, grew steadily in the period, totaling 2.21 quadrillion yuan, a surge of 20.5 percent over the same period last year.

The per capita disposable income of the city's residents in the first three quarters, meanwhile, grew 1 percent from the same period last year, to 59,472 yuan.

Of this, the disposable income of long-time urban residents was 62,479 yuan, up 0.9 percent, while that of rural residents rose 1.4 percent to 32,435 yuan.

Shanghai also added 440,300 jobs in the first nine months.