The mainland economy improved more than expected last month after inflation dipped to a 33-month low at 1.7% year on year. Industrial output expanded 9.6% from a year ago, ) said on November 9.
The October data confirmed that China’s economic slowing has “ truly bottomed out “, said Lu Ting, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The Producer Price Index dropped 2.8% year on year. Electricity production rose 6.4% year on year to 389.8 billion kilowatt-hours last month, the strongest growth since April. Retail sales growth picked up from 14.2% in September to 14.5% last month. Growth of fixed asset investments grew from 20.5% in the first nine months to 20.7% in the first 10 months.
New investment projects, a forward-looking indicator on fixed investment, surged 26.7% year on year, faster than the 25.7% gain in September.
The mainland’s October exports rose more than 11% on a year ago and imports grew by 2.8% over the same period.
~ SCMP, November 10, 2012 ~