China: Industrial production moderates sharply in October
Industrial production increased 4.7% year-on-year in October, sharply down from September’s 5.8% expansion and undershooting analysts’ expectations of a 5.4% rise. The reading was led by sizeable decelerations in mining and manufacturing output. The energy sector, however, posted an acceleration in the same month
On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted terms basis, industrial production increased 0.17% in October, down from the 0.71% expansion in September. Annual average growth in industrial production, meanwhile, inched down from 5.7% in September to 5.6% in October.
Against this backdrop, Iris Pang, Greater China economist at ING, comments that:
“Industrial production of vehicles (-11.1%YoY) and smartphones (-7.3%YoY) show how the trade war has affected exports as well as local demand. Vehicles and smartphones share two similar features; they are both expensive and demand for new models from consumers is low without an obvious reason to upgrade. As demand is weak, production shrinks as inventory must be sold. It’s not all bad though. Production of integrated circuits grew 23.5%YoY in October and we expect this to remain strong due to the production of 5G parts and products.”