China’s industrial production contracted in April, falling 2.9% year-over-year, according to a Monday report by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. Compared to the previous month, the added value of China’s industrial enterprises fell by 7%. Regarded by category, the added value of the mining industry in April increased 9.5% year-over-year, the manufacturing industry fell by 4.6%, while the electricity, heat, gas and water production climbed 1.5%. In terms of economic types, the added value of state-controlled enterprises declined by 2.9% on a yearly basis in April, as the joint-stock companies inched up 0.5%. Furthermore, foreign-invested companies, along with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-invested firms, dropped 16.1%, while private enterprises went down 1.1%.
China’s retail sales drop 11.1% in April
China’s retail sales went below analyst expectations to plunge by 11.1% in April, landing at 2.9 trillion yuan, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed in a Monday report. Furthermore,
April retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas amounted to 2.6 trillion yuan, down 11.3% year-over-year, while the monthly retail sales in rural areas were 385 billion yuan, marking a 9.8% fall.
In terms of consumption category, the April retail sales of food and beverages dropped 22.7% on a yearly basis, while commodity retail suffered a 9.7% decline. NN: Shocking!! This is a game changer. The Chinese slow down is now a major factor in my analysis. China the worlds factory and second largest economy can not be ignored. My initial analysis that Chinese Covid lock downs were temporary and isolated has changed. They have got a great big problem that only be described as a covid induced economic wipe out. This has two serious implications for us. The first is i have to rethink global energy consumption numbers. My calculations indicate serious oil demand destruction. This means that global oil consumption will fall as the domino effect of Chinese shutting shut down ripples through the world economy. And second severe supply chain disruptions driving goods shortages and higher prices which will create demand destruction. As a reult I took profits on our oil trade Friday and am moving to the sdie lines on oil as we await further data. For now oil may have been granted a temporary reprieve.