Delayed economic data is out
Business briefs from the Chinese media โ Monday October 24
Delayed economic data is out: The Communist Partyโs 20th Congress ended yesterday (see Bigger Picture below) and earlier today, the National Bureau of Statistics released Chinaโs third quarter economic data:
- GDP increased by 3.9% year-on-year;
- The average urban unemployment rate was 5.4% (but for 16-24-year olds it reached 17.9% in September);
- Total retail sales of consumer goods in September were 3.77 trillion yuan ($520.90 billion), a year-on-year increase of 2.5% but 2.9 percentage points lower than August and the lowest since June.
Battery king to enter solar energy: Last week, Chinaโs biggest battery maker CATL ๅฎๅพทๆถไปฃ announced that it had registered a patent for a perovskite solar cell, a next-generation type of solar panel material, not yet commercially available, that promises to be easier to manufacture and cheaper than silicon.
Chinese drilling in the Middle East: Yesterday, China Oilfield Services (COSL) ไธญๆตทๆฒน็ฐๆๅก, an oil and gas exploration and drilling company, announced it had signed several deals for drilling platform services with unspecified Middle Eastern oil companies for a total value of around 14 billion yuan ($1.93 billion).
Games are down: According to a new report, third quarter sales revenue in Chinaโs game industry was 59.70 billion yuan ($8.23 billion), a decrease of 12.61% month-on-month and 19.13% year-on-year.