China Steel Association: Downstream steel demand diverged from January to August, and the overall growth trend of the manufacturing industry continued

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on October 8, the China Steel Association released a monthly report on the operation of the main steel industry for September. From January to August, the construction industry continued to operate at a low level, mainly in the steel industry, and the overall growth trend of the manufacturing industry continued. Specifically, the real estate market continued to be deeply adjusted, and the year-on-year decline in infrastructure construction investment growth increased; cumulative exports of mechanical and electrical products continued to grow, and the year-on-year increase continued to expand; automobile production declined slightly; the three major indicators of the shipping industry maintained rapid growth; production of the three major white electronics products in the home appliance industry increased by two and one decrease; and container production increased year-on-year.

In August, in the construction sector, the main indicators of real estate continued to decline year on year; the year-on-year decline in infrastructure investment narrowed. In terms of manufacturing, in the machinery industry, production of most major machinery products maintained a year-on-year growth trend; production of the three major white appliances increased and decreased by two; the year-on-year decline in automobile production increased; the number of new orders received by the shipping industry nearly doubled; and container production increased significantly year-on-year.

Table 1 Year-on-year situation of major steel industry indicators in January-August%

I. Construction

From January to August, the main indicators of the real estate market continued to decline. Among them, investment in real estate development fell 19.9% year on year, commercial housing sales area decreased by 12.1%, construction area decreased by 12.8%, completed area decreased by 25.4%, and new construction area decreased by 25.4%. All indicators maintained a year-on-year downward trend.

In August, the main indicators of the real estate market all showed a downward trend. Among them, investment in real estate development fell 26.1% year on year, new construction area decreased by 20.5%; commercial housing sales area fell 15.4%, completed area decreased by 28.5% year on year. The year-on-year decline of the two indicators was further expanded from July.

Figure 1. Cumulative year-on-year growth rate of major real estate indicators

In January-August, investment in infrastructure construction fell 4.0% year on year, and the decline continued to expand. Among them, investment in the information transmission industry increased by 28.4%, investment in air transport increased by 16.7%, investment in water transport increased by 14.7%, investment in water management decreased by 12.0%, and investment in road transport decreased by 8.0%. In August, investment in infrastructure construction fell 6.9% year on year, and the decline narrowed for the first time since April this year.

Figure 2. Cumulative growth rate of infrastructure construction investment

II. Machinery industry

From January to August, the added value of the machinery industry continued to grow, and production of most products increased year-on-year. Among them, excavator production increased 25.5% year on year, metal cutting machine tool production increased 8.8% year on year, large tractor production increased 19.0% year on year, and special cement equipment production increased 16.4% year on year. Exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled 12905.2 billion yuan, up 21.9% year on year, accounting for 64.0% of total export value. The cumulative export volume of most products increased year on year.

In August, production of major products in the machinery industry increased and decreased year on year. Production of excavators, special cement equipment, metal smelting equipment, industrial robots, metal forming machine tools, metal cutting machine tools, and special equipment for feed production increased year on year; production of engines, large tractors, small tractors, air pollution prevention and control equipment, special packaging equipment, and industrial boilers declined year-on-year.

Figure 3 Cumulative growth rate of production of some mechanical products

III. Automobile industry

From January to August, China produced 2.05 million vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 3.8%. Among them, passenger car production was 17.34 million units, down 5.5% year on year; commercial vehicle production was 2.92 million units, up 7.5% year on year. Production of new energy vehicles was 11.71 million units, up 12.4% year on year, accounting for 57.5% of sales. Exports of 7.45 million vehicles increased by 51.2% year on year.

In August, automobile production was 2.68 million units, down 4.7% year on year and up 4.3% month on month. Passenger vehicle production was 2.37 million tons, down 5.3% year on year and up 5.5% month on month. Commercial vehicle production was basically the same year on year, with a decrease of 3.8% month on month. The export of 1.05 million vehicles was up 37.3% year-on-year, and the increase declined for two consecutive months.

Table 2: Vehicle production by model: 10,000 units,%

Figure 4 Monthly Vehicle Production

IV. Home appliance industry

From January to August, the output of the three major white electronics products in the home appliance industry increased and decreased unevenly over the same period last year. Among them, refrigerator production was 77.52 million units, up 11.6% year on year; washing machine production was 79.8 million units, up 4.0% year on year; air conditioning production was 187.22 million units, down 2.2% year on year. In addition, exports of various household appliances increased 5.1% year on year. Among them, refrigerator exports increased 11.8% year on year, washing machine exports increased 6.9% year on year, and air conditioning exports fell 2.4% year on year.

In August, the output of the three major white electronics products increased and decreased by two compared to the same period last year. Among them, refrigerator production increased 8.5% year on year, washing machine production increased 6.2% year on year, and air conditioning production decreased 9.2% year on year. The export volume of household appliances remained basically the same as in the same period last year.

Figure 5 Cumulative growth rate of the three major white power generation

5. Container industry

From January to August, China's container production was 171.05 million cubic meters, up 3.5% year on year; export volume fell 11.3% year on year.

In August, China's container output was 28.67 million cubic meters, up 27.8% year on year; export volume increased 41.8% year on year.

Figure 7 Cumulative monthly container production

Note: The above data comes from the National Bureau of Statistics, the General Administration of Customs and related industry associations