China\u2019s economy showed further signs of weakness last month, with key data Monday revealing factory output and consumption rising at their weakest pace for around a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing has struggled to fully reignite the world\u2019s number two economy since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the once-booming property sector mired in a debt crisis and exports facing mounting headwinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trends have contributed to a slump in consumer confidence, dragging on activity and threatening leaders\u2019 official growth target for this year of around five percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Industrial production edged up 5.2 percent year-on-year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the slowest pace since the same month last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The figure missed the 5.6 percent growth forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe activity data point to a further loss of momentum last month,\u201d Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile some of this reflects temporary weather-related disruptions, underlying growth is clearly sliding, raising pressure on policymakers to step in with additional support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NBS also said retail sales climbed 3.4 percent last month \u2014 the slowest since November and falling short of the 3.8 percent estimated in the Bloomberg survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The figure is another sign of China\u2019s protracted spending slump, which has also raised fears of a deflationary spiral weighing down growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 \u2018Soft sentiment\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China\u2019s vast real estate sector once served as a key driver of economic growth, fuelled by decades of rapid urbanisation and improved living standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the industry entered its current downturn in 2020 as the debt of several leading firms soared and major projects stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In August, new residential property prices fell year-on-year in 65 out of 70 cities surveyed by the NBS, data also showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe property market decline is a key driver behind soft consumer sentiment, which continues to dampen retail sales,\u201d wrote Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, in a note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSentiment remains soft despite a slew of measures over the past year,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese policymakers have since last year taken various steps to encourage spending, including a subsidy scheme for consumer goods and cancellations of certain restrictions on homebuying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But activity is still lacklustre, with data last week showing consumer prices falling in August at their fastest rate in half a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Urban unemployment ticked up to 5.3 percent last month, a slight increase from 5.2 percent in July, according to NBS data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cForward signals on the labour market haven\u2019t improved as growing external headwinds cloud the outlook,\u201d wrote Sheana Yue of Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe estimate that the economy could fall off a cliff in Q4 if the sluggish July and August activity pace is sustained, bringing into focus \u2014 once again \u2014 the urgent need for stimulus,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 \u2018Numerous risks\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NBS chief economist Fu Linghui acknowledged \u201cweak\u201d demand in the domestic economy during a Monday news conference, noting that \u201csome enterprises are facing operational difficulties\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that \u201cthere is still much instability and uncertainty in the external environment, and (China\u2019s) economic performance still faces numerous risks and challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the main challenges facing the economy is the strained relationship between Beijing and Washington as disputes over technology and geopolitics mount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China-US trade tensions have been on a rollercoaster ride in 2025, with both sides slapping escalating tariffs on each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials from the two countries on Sunday kicked off a fresh round of talks in Madrid, where they are set to thrash out disputes over hefty US tariffs and other key issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China\u2019s economy showed further signs of weakness last month, with key data Monday revealing factory output and consumption rising at their weakest pace for around a year. Beijing has struggled to fully reignite the world\u2019s number two economy since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the once-booming property sector mired in a debt crisis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[3763,2722,3765,1919,3764],"class_list":["post-8745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-activity","tag-chinese","tag-consumer","tag-economy","tag-factory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8747,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8745\/revisions\/8747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}