In the first quarter of 2009, the consumer goods industry gradually stabilized

    According to information from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first quarter of this year, the added value of the consumer goods industry above designated size grew by 7.8% year-on-year, with an increase of 9.8% in March and an acceleration of 2.4 percentage points over the first two months. Benefited from the country's expansion of consumer policies, the production and operation of the consumer goods industry is better than the overall situation of the industry.

    Light Industry: In the first quarter, the value-added of the light industry rose by 7.8% year-on-year, with an increase of 9.4% in March, 1.8 percentage points higher than the first two months. In the “home appliances to the countryside” and other factors to expand consumer policy, some home appliances production situation improved. Among the main products, the output of domestic electric water heaters and household washing machines increased by 3.1% and 4.7% respectively, that of refrigerators increased by 7.9%, and that of microwave ovens decreased by 26.1%. Dairy production increased by 3.3% year-on-year.

    In the first quarter, the export delivery value of light industrial products above designated size decreased by 10.8%, a decrease of 5.2 percentage points from the overall industrial exports, and the proportion of export delivery value to sales output rose from 16.6% in the first two months to 22.8%. Since last year, the state has repeatedly raised the export tax rebate rate for some labor-intensive products, which has had a positive effect on curbing the rapid decline in exports of light industrial products. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, footwear exports increased by 0.8% year-on-year. Although exports of luggage, plastic products, furniture and parts, and toys decreased by 1.0% to 13.8%, they were all lower than the national exports (17.1%).

    From January to February, the light industry industry realized a profit of 54.7 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.2%, which was mainly due to the decline in profits of agricultural and non-staple food processing and papermaking industries (profits were reduced by 1.09 billion yuan and 1.96 billion yuan respectively, down 8% and 40.8%).

    Textile: In the first quarter, the value-added of textile enterprises above designated size increased by 6.1% year-on-year, with an increase of 8.4% in March; export delivery value decreased by 8.5%, of which 8.4% in March. Production of yarn was 4.8 million tons, an increase of 7.7%; production of cloth was 11.4 billion meters, a decrease of 2.5%; clothing was 4.83 billion, a decrease of 2.7%; chemical fiber was 5.74 million tons, an increase of 6.1%.

    According to customs statistics, exports of textile yarns, fabrics, and products for the first two months totaled US$12.02 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 15.6%; exports of apparel and clothing accessories were US$22.05 billion, a decrease of 5%.

    Domestic cotton prices rebounded. At the end of March, the domestic cotton price index (grade 328) was 11,692 yuan/ton, a year-on-year decrease of 15.4%, and an increase of 256 yuan/ton from the end of February.

    From January to February, the textile industry realized a profit of 12.4 billion yuan, a decrease of 9.5% (a 14.2% increase over the same period of last year), of which the textile industry realized a profit of 6.66 billion yuan, a decrease of 10.3%, and the garment and its manufacturing industries realized a profit of 5.87 billion yuan. 15.6%.

    Pharmaceutical: In the first quarter, the added value of the pharmaceutical industry increased by 14.7% year-on-year, making it the fastest growing industry among the 12 major industrial sectors; of which, it rose by 16.3% in March. The production of chemical raw drugs was 448,000 tons, a decrease of 7.4%; Chinese patent medicines were 378,000 tons, an increase of 14.5%. From January to February, the pharmaceutical industry realized a profit of 11.5 billion yuan, an increase of 22.4%.

    Tobacco: In the first quarter, the value-added value of the tobacco industry increased by 6.1% year-on-year, with an increase of 9.9% in March and production of 633.5 billion cigarettes, an increase of 3.3%, and a decrease of 4.1% year-on-year. From January to February, the tobacco industry realized a profit of 20.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%.