China's economic growth was strong and steady for the first three quarters of the year, said National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) spokesman Zheng Jingping at a press conference held on Friday in Beijing.

Preliminary calculations put the country's gross domestic product at 9.3 trillion yuan (US$1.1 trillion) for the January-September period, a rise of 9.5 percent year-on-year, or 0.6 percentage points higher than the same period of last year.

Agricultural added value reached 1.3 trillion yuan (US$152.4 billion), up 5.5 percent, while industrial added value jumped 10.9 percent to 5.2 trillion yuan (US$623.9 billion) and that of the service sector rose 8.5 percent to 2.9 trillion yuan (US$350.7 billion).

Total investment in fixed assets from January to September was 4.5 trillion yuan (US$543.4 billion), an increase of 27.7 percent year-on-year. This was a drop of 15.3 percentage points from first-quarter growth and of 0.9 percentage point from the first half, Zheng said.

Growth in investment in some overheated industries dropped markedly. Total investment in the first three quarters in the steel and cement sectors plummeted 65.5 and 43.4 percentage points, respectively, compared with the first quarter. Investment in aluminum processing and manufacturing decreased 6.5 percent year-on-year, a sharp slowdown from the 39.3 percent growth recorded in the first quarter this year, Zheng said.

Investment in real estate climbed 28.3 percent, a slowdown of 12.8 percentage points from the first quarter.

A sharp 21.4 percent increase appeared in investment in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and stockbreeding, up 21 percentage points compared with the first quarter.??

The 9.7 percent increase in consumption in the first three quarters this year is encouraging, said Zheng. The figure was 0.6 percentage point above that for the same period last year.

"We hope for a consumption-driven economy," Zheng said, adding that yearly consumption growth ranges between 9 and 10 percent.

"We feel it is encouraging to have such an increase in consumption," Zheng said.

Meanwhile, added industrial output value came in at 3.9 trillion yuan (US$472.8 billion) for the first three quarters, up 17 percent year-on-year. Heavy industry reported an 18.5 percent increase in added industrial output value, while the growth rate for light industry was 15.4 percent.

The statistics are compiled from figures for firms whose annual sales revenues are 5 million yuan (US$609,000) and above.

These Chinese companies also reported income statement improvements for the period. They booked 808.8 billion yuan (US$98.6 billion) in profit, up 39.8 percent, and their ratio of production to sales was 97.8 percent, up 0.2 percentage points.?

Zheng Jingping said that surging oil prices will have a limited impact on the Chinese economy.

In the first nine months of this year, China exported 4.3 million tons of crude oil valued at US$1 billion and imported 90 million tons with a value of US$23.6 billion.

If the oil price is up US$10 a barrel and the hike lasts one year, China's consumer price index would climb 0.3 to 0.4 percentage points, he said. China is an oil importer, he said, but also an oil producer, with an annual output of 170 million tons.

Zheng said there is only a small possibility that oil prices will continue to rise from current levels, but China should monitor price trends and take precautions against fluctuations.

Real estate prices overall climbed 13.4 year-on-year and those of residential housing 11.5 percent in the first nine months. Continued "very strong" demand, together with higher land and materials costs, is driving up prices, according to Zheng,?

Since April, the central government has tightened controls on the use of land. According to the Economic Information Daily, land prices increased 11.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, up 1.3 percent over the second quarter.

Zheng said that the government will continue to monitor real estate prices and discourage sharp rises.

Turning to agriculture, Zheng said that China expects total grain output this year to increase substantially from 2003.

Early rice output reached 32.1 billion kilograms, up 8.8 percent, following the 4.8 percent growth in summer grains.

Zheng attributed the improvements to the central government's efforts to support agricultural production and incentives for growing grain crops.?

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2004)