99.1% of Chinese firms above designated size resume work

As of Monday, 99.1% of Chinese industrial enterprises above the designated size had resumed work, and 95.4% of employees from those companies had returned to their posts, Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei said on Wednesday during a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

As work resumes, production order in these companies is also being restored. Despite the fact that their added value in the first four months fell by 4.9% year on year, Miao said it was "a very positive sign" that the figure changed from a decline of 1.1% in March to an increase of 3.9% in April.

He also said that most industries had been recovering. For example, driven by policies to promote consumer spending in the automobile sector, automobile production and sales in April increased by 2.3% and 4.4%, respectively. A growth in sales was seen for the first time after 21 consecutive months of decline.

High-tech manufacturing also bucked the downward trend. The added value of the industry increased by 0.5% year on year in the first four months, highlighted by growth rate rebounds to 8.9% and 10.5% in March and April, respectively. 

Huang Libin, spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, spoke on the rate of work and production resumption in small and medium-sized enterprises. Though work resumption rate has been lower than that of industries above the designated size, it had reached 91% by Monday and is now increasing steadily.

Miao said that, with significant institutional advantages, sound industrial system, huge market demand, and adequate policy tools, China will only see a temporary and generally controllable impact of the pandemic on its industrial economy.

With stronger policies in place and the resumption of work and production, Miao said the country can expect to see its industrial economy to continue recovering in the second quarter. If the pandemic can be gradually brought under control, the industrial economy may perform better in the second half of this year than the first half, he said.