May Value Added of China Raw Material Industry up 8.9 pct on Year

BEIJING, June 25 -- China's raw materials industry saw its value added in May rise 8.9 percent year on year, with the growth rate up 1.9 percentage points over April, the statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) show.

    In a breakdown, the added value of the smelting sector last month increased 4.2 percent year on year, compared to the negative growth of 0.3 percent in April.

    The crude steel output in May went up 0.6 percent over the year earlier period, with the daily output hitting 1.5 million tons, up 29.3 percent over the valley in October last year. The May steels output rose 7.4 percent year on year.

    In the January-May period, the country's steels exports fell 63.6 percent on year to 7.9 million tons, and its steels imports went down 7.4 percent to 6.5 million tons. Its billet imports reached 2.27 million tons in the period, 26 times more than that in the same period last year, and the iron ore imports amounted to 242 million tons, up 25.9 percent year on year.

    The value added of the nonferrous metals sector rose 7.3 percent year on year in May, which represented an increase of 3.1 percentage points from April. The total output of ten nonferrous metals dropped 6.6 percent last month, with the electrolytic copper output up 1.4 percent while the electrolytic aluminum output down 12.1 percent.

    Stimulated by the government's supportive policies, the prices of major metals have displayed rallying trend.

    Boosted by infrastructure construction, the building materials sector presents a rapid growth momentum. May saw this sector's added value rise 16 percent year on year. The cement output in the month increased 13.5 percent on year while the flat glass output declined 7.3 percent, compared with the positive growth of 3.1 percent in April.

    By the end of May, the cement stocks for key building materials enterprises reached 5.14 million tons, up 25.7 percent over the year earlier period, and their flat glass stocks dropped 17.4 percent on year to 20.66 million weight boxes.

    The value added of the chemical sector rose 12.6 percent year on year in May, achieving the double-digit growth rate for the third straight month. However, market prices of majority chemical products slipped back in May.

    (Source: chinamining.org)