【10.01.02 澳大利亚人报】China manufacturing powers ahead at year's end

青蛙小王子

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/china-manufacturing-powers-ahead-at-years-end/story-e6frg8zx-1225815363106
CHINA'S manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in 20 months in December, cementing the recovery in the world's third-biggest economy.
The Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to a seasonally adjusted 56.6, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday.
That compares with 55.2 in November and the median 55.4 estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.
The boost to Chinese manufacturing from subsidies for home appliance purchases and tax rebates for exporters is expected to continue this year as the government extends policies to counter the financial crisis.
The UN forecast last month that China's growth would accelerate to 8.8 per cent in 2010, four times faster than the US. The global economy would expand by 2.4 per cent, the UN said.
"Manufacturing will stay at a high level as industrial production quickens and companies receive more orders for new year holiday sales," Lu Zhengwei, an economist at Industrial Bank in Shanghai, said before yesterday's data.
"Exports may return to growth in December, aiding manufacturing growth."
Industrial production grew in November at the fastest pace since March 2008, exports dropped the least in 13 months and imports surged.
Yesterday's PMI figure compares with a record low 38.8 in November 2008, when recessions in the US, Europe and Japan sent export orders plunging. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.
China and Asia are leading the world recovery, helping to boost global confidence, which held near a record high in December, according to a Bloomberg survey of users of six continents, first conducted two years ago. China is likely to overtake Japan as the world's second-biggest economy this year.
Profits are climbing as the economy gathers pace. Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co, the company which is buying technology from GM's Saab unit, said on December 23 that 11-month net income had more than tripled. China Gas Holdings Ltd's profit in the six months to September jumped nearly sixfold.
Premier Wen Jiabao said last week that China would not make the mistake of ending stimulus policies too soon, even as he suggested that the government might cool new lending that reached an unprecedented $US1.3 trillion ($1.45 trillion) in the first 11 months of last year. Mr Wen also said that China would "absolutely not yield" to pressure from foreign countries for currency gains. China is holding the yuan at about 6.83 to the US dollar. Commerce Minister Chen Deming pledged to maintain export tax rebates in 2010 because of a slow recovery in global demand. Also aiding manufacturers, a program of subsidies for purchases of appliances such as refrigerators in rural China will be expanded by raising price caps to make more products eligible.
China's economic growth in the fourth quarter probably topped the third quarter's 8.9 per cent, Xu Xianchun, deputy head of the statistics bureau, said last month. Gross domestic product probably expanded 8.5 per cent in 2009 and should grow 9.4 per cent in 2010, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists.