Chinese machinery industry makes strong start to 2007

According to the statistics issued by the China Machinery Industry Federation, the Chinese machinery industry continued to maintain its strong development trend during the first two months of this year. Production and sales makes a good start to the year In January and February 2007, the total sales volume for the whole industry was RMB 854.68 billion ($110.56 billion), a year-on-year increase of 32.75 percent. This growth rate is 3.33 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year. Export transaction volume sees a big upward jump In the January-February period, the total export transaction volume was RMB 146.411 billion ($18.94 billion), up 35.77 percent year on year. This growth rate is 11.95 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year and is also above the average monthly growth rate of last year. Sales to production ratio declines slightly In the first two months of this year, the sales to production ratio of machinery products was 95.86 percent, slightly lower than 96.28 percent for the previous year, a year-on-year decrease of 0.42 of a percentage point.