中国工厂期待更好的四季度

A ray of hope for China's embattled factories, hard-hit by the eurozone debt crisis and slowing global demand. The Ministry of Industry and IT says the country's manufacturers will see a pick-up in activity in the fourth quarter of this year, as the government's pro-growth policies gradually take effect.

China’s industrial output grew 9.1 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2012 year on year. Down from 11.6 percent growth in the first quarter and 9.5 percent in the second quarter, industrial growth in July, August and September were 9.2, 8.9 and 9.2 percent respectively.

Zhu Hongren, the ministry’s spokesman and chief engineer says month-on-month figures show an apparent turnaround in output growth.

Zhu said, "The industrial sector performance has shown signs of stabilisation and we can see an even clearer growth trend from the month-to-month figures in the third quarter. Therefore we can expect industrial output growth in the fourth quarter would be faster than that in Q3."

But he add, the stabilization trend of China’s industrial sector is not yet solid and still facing many challenges and difficulties in the path to stable growth.

With China committed to restructuring its economy, its former strength as the manufacturing powerhouse of the world is having to take a back seat. Economists say that China has to move forward with the new economic roadmap.

Liu Baocheng, professor with University of International Business & Economics, said, “In the first nine months of the year, the Ministry of Industry and IT eliminated more than 26 hundred outdated enterprises. And the growth rate in new and emerging industries, such as pharmaceuticals and aviation, was significantly higher than the average industrial output growth. In the consumer field, the country has carried out an array of stimulus policies. Sales of home appliances have been rising, the communications industry has been keeping growth steady.”