Accommodation and Catering

From January to July, retail sales of the accommodation and catering industry reached 571.06 billion yuan, an increase of 76.59 billion yuan over the same period last year, said the Ministry of Commerce (see graph 1). The sector's retail sales accounted for 13.4 percent of the nation's total retail sales of consumer goods, representing a rise of 2.1 percentage points over the same period last year. The industry's year-on-year sales growth, 15.5 percent, was 2.1 percentage points higher than the overall growth of retail sales of consumer goods.

In July alone, retail sales of the industry held at 78.2 billion yuan, edging up 16.7 percent over a year ago but sliding 2.4 percent from June. The year-on-year increase of the industry was 3 percentage points higher than the overall growth of the total retail sales of consumer goods during this month.

In the first seven months, the sector saw the approval of 605 foreign-funded enterprises, a drop of 5.5 percent from the same period last year. The commitment and paid-in capital stood at $1.62 billion and $430 million, respectively, surging 18.9 percent and 51.7 percent, year on year.

GDP Revision

After preliminary verification, last year the country's gross domestic product reached 18.31 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.2 percent over the previous year at comparable prices, said the National Bureau of Statistics. Of the total, the added value of primary, secondary and tertiary industries was 2.31 trillion yuan, 8.7 trillion yuan and 7.3 trillion yuan, respectively, up 5.2 percent, 11.7 percent and 10 percent, year on year. The primary industry took a share of 12.6 percent, the secondary industry 47.5 percent and the tertiary industry 39.9 percent.

Animal Husbandry

In 2005, the total output value of animal husbandry exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan, accounting for 34 percent of the total agricultural output value, 4.3 percentage points higher than its proportion in 2000, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).

During last year, the total meat output was 77.43 million tons, edging up 26.4 percent over 2000. The output of eggs and dairy products stood at 28.8 million tons and 28.65 million tons, ranging up 28.4 percent and 212 percent, respectively, since 2000.

In 2005, the average per-capita income generated from animal husbandry reached 600 yuan, contributing more than 30 percent of the cash income of rural households, 4.4 percentage points higher than the figure in 2000.

Meanwhile, animal production is more concentrated in regions of competitiveness. Thirteen pork production provinces contributed 76.8 percent of the country's total pork output. Eight major beef-cattle farming provinces produced 66.3 percent of the total beef output nationwide. Seven major provinces of dairy products represented 62.2 percent of the country's total milk output, and 10 major poultry farming provinces produced 79.2 percent of the country's total output of eggs.

At the same time, the growth pattern of animal husbandry is changing from a quantity-oriented one to one that focuses on quantity, quality and returns. At present, there are more than 60,000 farming communities across the country. Feedlot and semi-feedlot farming were gradually extended in pastoral regions, as well as semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral regions. The campaign of converting grazing land into grassland facilitated the shift of animal farming to pastoral regions.

In recent years, the MOA has adopted various measures to speed up agricultural development. Since 1998, the state has allocated nearly 1 billion yuan from the treasury bond funds to support the upgrading and building of animal breeding farms, gene banks, breeding cattle stations and testing centers. Since 2005, the MOA has carried out the program of subsidized frozen semen of improved dairy stock, which has contributed to the increasing dairy breed performance.

On July 1, 2006, the Law on Animal Husbandry went into force, turning the guidelines and policies favorable to animal husbandry into law.

Power

China boosted its power generation capacity by 41.94 gigawatts (gw) in the first seven months, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Of the total new generation capacity in the period, 5.26 gw were hydropower and 36.5 gw were thermal power.

Statistics from the China Electricity Council showed that the generation capacity had exceeded 500 gw by the end of last year.

China's electricity demand and supply will level off later this year with a sharp rise in capacity, said Zhang Guobao, Vice Chairman of the NDRC, in June. According to him, it is expected that 70 gw of new capacity will go into production this year.

The NDRC report said that in the first seven months, China consumed 1.57 trillion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity, with heavy industry claiming the sharpest growth in demand.

Electricity consumption of the primary industry, secondary industry and tertiary industry ranged up 6.61 percent, 13.84 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively, year on year. During the January-July period, electricity used by households was up 13.52 percent.

Industrial consumption of power rose 13.86 percent, with the consumption of light industry and heavy industry rising by 10.1 percent and 14.8 percent respectively, said the report.

China generated over 1.52 trillion kwh in the period, ticking up 12.1 percent from the same period last year.

Thermal power supply rose 12.5 percent and hydropower supply 11.2 percent, but nuclear power supply slid 0.4 percent.

China needed to adjust its power generation structure in order to be less dependent on coal, Zhang Guobao said. According to him, the government will accelerate the closures of small thermal power units that produce heavy pollution, taking out a total of 15 million kw in the next five years.

The power industry developed at a double-digit growth rate over the past four years, higher than the growth rate of the country's GDP. By the end of 2004, China's total installed capacity was 442 million kw, or 51 million kw more than in 2003.

According to an NDRC forecast, the country's installed capacity will increase to nearly 800 million kw in 2010, when supply and demand will be basically balanced, and the proportion of clean energy, such as nuclear power and hydropower, will account for 35 percent of the country's total electricity generation.

Textile Industry

Experts predict that the textile industry's financial performance will steadily increase in the second half of 2006, while the increase will be slightly less than that in the first half of 2006, said the NDRC.

The analytical report, published on the website of NDRC, said that some problems still exist in the textile industry. For instance, exports to the European Union and the United States slowed down and cotton prices were going up.