According to data issued by the China Machinery Industry Union, in the first half of the current year China's machinery industry posted a growth rate of 7.28 percent year on year in its gross output value, to RMB 4.79 trillion ($700 billion), much higher than the growth rate of 2.9 percent for the first two months of the year.
Meanwhile, it is expected that the gross output value of the industry for the whole of 2009 will register an increase of 12 percent compared with last year, with a growth rate of eight percent seen in profits and a decrease of 10 percent expected in the export volume.
As regards profits, in the first five months of the year, China's machinery industry posted a total profit of RMB 189.8 billion ($27.8 billion), declining 7.73 percent year on year. However, when compared with a decline of 25.81 percent for the first two months of the current year, the January-May figures indicate an improvement.
During the period from January to June, the national machinery industry recorded a total fixed assets investment of RMB 629.244 billion ($92.1 billion), up 43.85 percent year on year, higher than the growth rate of 38.81 percent in the corresponding period of last year and the growth rate of 33.6 percent for total urban investments in the first half year of 2009.