China Business Guide 中 国 商 务 指 南 2009 （The Light Industry）

Source of the data: China National Light Industry Council

4.1 Overall Situation of the Light Industry

The light industry is a comprehensive industry with a higher level of market-oriented ness, and all its sectors boast product exports on different scales. Due to the global financial crisis breaking out in 2008, consumer confidence declined while consumer markets were shrinking across the world. The light industry had been faced with unprecedented difficulties, and those sectors which were dependent on export and whose raw materials were primarily from foreign resources were suffering significant impacts. The light industry had followed a course from high to low in 2008, especially in the fourth quarter. All sectors in the industry had gone through difficulties of different degrees in operations and witnessed declining profits. Some enterprises were suffering heavy losses.

In 2008, the light industry had maintained high growth rate in its cumulative industrial output value and profits thanks to the rapid growth in the first half of 2008. During the first half of 2008, the growth rates of the cumulative industrial output value and profits stood at 29.14% and 36.66% respectively during the first half of 2008, hitting a record high in three years and offering important support for the light industry to achieve relatively higher growth speed in the whole year.

In 2008, the light industry witnessed a declining curve in its total industrial output value and added value. The growth of total industrial output value stood at 25.6%, 25.0%, 23.4% and 21.0% respectively in the four quarters, while the growth of industrial added value were 14.7%, 13.8%, 13.1% and 12.3% respectively.

Figure 4 2 Growth of the light industry’s output value in 2008 Unit: %

title	Jan.-Mar.	Jan.-Jun.	Jan.-Sept.	Jan.-Dec.
Industrial output value (current price)	25.6%	25.0%	23.4%	21.0%
Industrial added value	14.7%	13.8%	13.1%	12.3%

Source of the data: China National Light Industry Council

4.1.1 Development of Sub-industries

In 2008, 17 out of the 18 sub-industries witnessed double-digit growth in industrial output value, and 10 of them had maintain the growth rate of over 20%. The industry of wood, bamboo, cane, palm fibre and straw product witnessed the highest growth speed of 36.89%, followed by the glass and ceramics industry (27.53%). The industries of clock, spectacle and other machinery manufacturing for cultural and office uses saw the lowest growth rate of 7.7%, following the industries of stationery and sports products and printing (10.78%) as well as the industry of bicycle manufacturing (12.82%). All sectors in the light industry had achieved sound performance in 2008, but problems emerged in the later half year, the fourth quarter in particular. Shrinking market demands led to excessive inventory. It was hard for enterprises to put the high-priced raw materials they purchased during the early stage into use withn a short term. Slowing-down turnover of capital and default in the payment resulted in difficulties in collecting payment and current capital problems. Those large-sized enterprises in the papermaking industry and household appliance industry were faced with the risk of capital chain rupture for a time.

The agricultural and sideline food processing industry achieved a total output value of 2330.5 billion yuan in 2008, accounting for 24.82% of the whole light industry and ranking first among all light-industry sectors. The battery, household electric and lighting device manufacturing industry (12.52%), the plastic manufacturing industry (10.26%), the food manufacturing industry (8.27%) and the papermaking and paper product industry (8.16%) followed.

Figure 4-3 Analysis of the Light Industry's Total Production Values by Sector in 2007-08 Unit: 100 billion yuan, %

2007
title	indicator	Proportion (%)	Volume of year -on-year increase or decrease	year-on-year increase or decrease (%)
Light industry	76040.6	100	17150.3	29.12
agricultural and sideline food processing industry	17458.3	22.96	4525.4	34.99
plastic manufacturing industry	8018.2	10.54	1660	26.11
Food manufacturing industry	6091.6	8.01	1337.3	28.13
Beverage manufacturing industry	5086.2	6.69	1178.8	30.17
papermaking and paper product industry	6295.9	8.28	1209.9	23.79
Furniture manufacturing industry	2416	3.18	563.2	30.40
battery, household electric and lighting device manufacturing industry	9736.4	12.8	2243.7	29.95
Metal-made light-industry product manufacturing industry	3625.6	4.77	899.9	33.02
Glass and ceramics product manufacturing industry	1675.6	2.2	444.2	36.07
leather, fur and down product manufacturing industry	5213.4	6.86	1022.1	24.39
craft and daily-use commodities manufacturing industry and hat making industry	3085.9	4.06	734.4	31.23
stationary and sports product manufacturing industry and notebook-printing industry	2287.1	3.01	398.5	21.10
Bicycle manufacturing industry	604.4	0.79	85.9	16.55
Salt mining industry	217.7	0.29	31	16.58
wood, bamboo, cane, palm fiber and straw product manufacturing industry	419.1	0.55	117.9	39.15
daily-use chemicals manufacturing and printing ink and animal glue manufacturing industry	2055.9	2.7	348.6	20.42
clock, spectacle and other office-use machinery manufacturing industry	470.4	0.62	89.1	23.37
sewing machine, weighing instrument and light-industry equipment manufacturing industry	1282.9	1.69	260.2	25.44
2008
Light industry	93898.0	100	17857.4	24.54
agricultural and sideline food processing industry	23305.0	24.82	5846.7	33.49
plastic manufacturing industry	9638.4	10.26	1620.2	20.21
Food manufacturing industry	7768.8	8.27	1677.3	27.53
Beverage manufacturing industry	6276.6	6.68	1190.5	23.41
papermaking and paper product industry	7657.5	8.16	1361.6	21.63
Furniture manufacturing industry	2925.4	3.12	509.3	21.08
battery, household electric and lighting device manufacturing industry	11752.9	12.52	2016.6	20.71
Metal-made light-industry product manufacturing industry	4288.9	4.57	663.3	18.30
Glass and ceramics product manufacturing industry	2088.7	2.22	413.2	24.66
leather, fur and down product manufacturing industry	5982	6.37	768.6	14.74
craft and daily-use commodities manufacturing industry and hat making industry	3808.9	4.06	723	23.43
stationary and sports product manufacturing industry and notebook-printing industry	2533.5	2.7	246.4	10.78
Bicycle manufacturing industry	681.9	0.73	77.5	12.82
Salt mining industry	249.8	0.27	32	14.71
wood, bamboo, cane, palm fiber and straw product manufacturing industry	573.7	0.61	154.6	36.89
daily-use chemicals manufacturing and printing ink and animal glue manufacturing industry	2395.5	2.55	339.7	16.52
clock, spectacle and other office-use machinery manufacturing industry	506.7	0.54	36.2	7.70
sewing machine, weighing instrument and light-industry equipment manufacturing industry	1463.7	1.56	180.8	14.09

Source of the data: China National Light Industry Council

4.1.2 Price Trends of Light-industry Products

As a barometer of for industrial economy, producer's price index (PPI) for manufactured products indicates variation tendency and fluctuations of the prices of manufactured products. It is one of the important indicators for national economic accounting and economic management. Its fluctuation is the comprehensive reflection of the operation outcomes of the industrial economy, and also one of the factors impacting the operation of the industrial economy. In 2008, prices of light-industry products followed a course from high to low, and the price index witnessed accelerated decreases in the later half year. Producer's price index for the light-industry products with agricultural products as raw materials saw drastic fluctuations than that of the light-industry products with non-agricultural products as raw materials. Producer's price index for the light-industry products with agricultural products as raw materials reached up to 107.32 points in April, 2008, hitting a record high, and then had declined for seven consecutive months to 101.25 points in December. Producer's price index for the light-industry products with non-agricultural products as raw materials witnessed slow fluctuations, undergoing gradual increases from January to August in 2008 and hitting a maximum of 103.73 points in September. Afterwards, the index declined rapidly to 100.54 points in December. The light industry’s price indexes saw insignificant changes from March to September and accelerated declines from October to December.

Figure 4-4 Price Indexes of the Light Industry in 2008

time	producer's price index for manufactured products	Producer's price index for the light-industry products with agricultural products as raw materials	Producer's price index for the light-industry products with non-agricultural products as raw materials
200801	103.62	106.29	101.73
200802	103.73	106.43	101.83
200803	104.52	107.31	102.56
200804	104.48	107.32	102.47
200805	104.31	106.98	102.43
200806	104.55	106.59	103.11
200807	104.38	106.32	103.01
200808	104.21	105.60	103.22
200809	104.30	105.10	103.73
200810	103.42	104.38	102.74
200811	102.17	102.62	101.85
200812	100.83	101.25	100.54

Source of the data: National Bureau of Statistics of China

4.1.3 Import and Export of the Light Industry

The total import volume of the light industry reached up to US $79,990.67 million in 2008, US $69145.78 million more than that of 2007. The export volume stood at US $309229.06 million, US $270117.08 million more than that of 2007. In January, 2008, the total import volume of the light industry reached up to US $6359.88 million, a year-on-year increase of 27.23%, and the export volume reached US $25469.93 million, a year-on-year increase of 23.14%. In February, the import saw a faster year-on-year growth than the export. The year-on-year growth of import had maintained at about 25% from January to June, while the year-on-year growth of export at about 15%. The light industry witnessed significant declines in year-on-year growth of import and export due to the global financial crisis in the later half year. The year-on-year growth of import stood at only 15.68% in December, hitting a minimum in the year, while the year-on-year growth of export was 15.68%, showing a declining trend.

Figure4-5 Import and Export Volume of the Light Industry in 2008 Unit: US $10,000, %

time	Import volume of the month	Year-on-year increase	export volume of the month	Year-on-year increase
200801	635987.7	27.23	2546992.9	23.14
200802	553226.6	30.42	1807033.4	9.51
200803	681241.5	24.76	2277369	16.42
200804	746969.7	24.17	2580996	16.42
200805	700637.8	25.56	2570986	16.80
200806	675844.1	25.19	2548460	15.42
200807	776131.9	25.78	2588462	15.58
200808	704505.1	23.56	2829080	15.22
200809	736198.4	22.44	2872222	15.57
200810	655108.8	21.46	2736182	15.76
200811	586263.8	18.32	2584634	14.77
200812	550886.4	15.68	2716980	14.48

Source of the data: China Customs

Proportion of the trade surplus of China's light industry declined rapidly in 2008. The cumulative trade surplus of the light industry from January to December of 2008 reached up to US $229.24 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.05%. The growth was 4.55 percentage points lower than that of 2007. The proportion of the trade surplus of China's light industry in China’s total trade surplus had declined from the 104.37% of the first half year, the 92.15% of the first three quarters to the 77.59％ of the whole year.