TO THE POINT: The National Bureau of Statistics has released economic data for the first half of 2011. Crisis-stricken foreign trade continues to recover. Investment in fixed assets and retail sales are holding up, becoming the main growth engines of the economy. Meanwhile, yuan-denominated new loans are decreasing as the country aims to calm inflationary jitters. The once-booming auto markets are slackening off with sales dramatically slowing in the first half of this year.

H1 Economic Figures

Foreign trade

China's foreign trade stabilized in the first half of this year, though it has yet to completely recover its lost ground.

Exports increased 24 percent to $874.3 billion, while imports climbed 27.6 percent to $829.37 billion, said the General Administration of Customs (GAC). The trade surplus came in at $44.93 billion, decreasing 18.2 percent.

In June alone, exports increased 17.9 percent to $161.98 billion, and imports grew 19.3 percent to $139.71 billion.

"Uncertainties still hang over the world economy, casting an ominous shadow over exports," said Zhao Fudi, spokesman of the GAC. "Appreciation of the yuan also hurt the competitiveness of Chinese exporters."

The Chinese currency has appreciated more than 5 percent since a year ago when China decided to further reform the yuan exchange rate regime.

"Net trade is expected to have positive impact on economic growth this year," said Zhu Baoliang, chief economist with the State Information Center. "Meanwhile, China's trade surplus is shrinking, as the country makes progress toward a more balanced economy."

Forex reserves

China's foreign exchange reserves totaled $3.1975 trillion at the end of June, climbing 30.3 percent year on year, said the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

Retail sales

From January to June, retail sales of consumer goods stood at 8.58 trillion yuan ($1.32 trillion), rising 16.8 percent compared with the same period of 2010.

"Consumption should hold up this year, supported by sustained wage growth and an improved social safety net," said Lu Zhengwei, chief economist with the Industrial Bank Ltd.

Fixed-asset investment

Investment in fixed assets surged 25.6 percent from the previous year to reach 12.46 trillion yuan ($1.92 trillion) in the first half of 2011.

Investment in real estate development jumped 32.9 percent to 2.63 trillion yuan ($403.85 billion).

"Headwind from a normalized macroeconomic stance, inflation and somewhat slower global growth is likely to be partly offset by solid corporate investment and a still robust labor market," said the World Bank in a recent report.

Another focus area of investment are water resource projects, said Zuo Xiaolei, chief economist with the Beijing-based China Galaxy Securities Co. Ltd.

The Central Government has recently announced an ambitious program to invest 4 trillion yuan ($615.38 billion) over the next 10 years to build irrigation and water conservation projects as the country has experienced severe flood and drought disasters this year.

"But the country needs to avoid over-reliance on investments as a source of growth," said Zuo. "Massive investments would also further shore up demand, adding to inflationary pressures."

Money supply

The broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, had increased 15.9 percent from a year ago to 78.08 trillion yuan ($12 trillion) by the end of June, said the central bank.

Earlier this year, the Chinese Government set a target of 16-percent growth in M2 for the entire year of 2011.

Bank lending

New loans denominated in the yuan totaled 633.9 billion yuan ($97.52 billion) in June, an increase of 20.7 billion yuan ($3.18 billion) over the same period last year, said the central bank.

The June figure brought the amount in the first six months to nearly 4.17 trillion yuan ($641.54 billion), a decrease of more than 449.7 billion yuan ($69.18 billion) from the previous year.

In a bid to tame inflation, the central bank has required commercial banks to slow the pace of lending and raised the reserve requirement ratio six times this year, punching the banks' ability to lend.

"Credit growth is expected to continue tapering off in the latter half of this year," said E Yongjian, an economist with Shanghai-based Bank of Communications Ltd.

"But China needs to open the lending tap for smaller enterprises, agriculture and the construction of affordable homes," he said.

Industrial output

The value-added output of industrial enterprises above a designated-size—annual sales of 20 million yuan ($3 million)—grew 14.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2011.

Industrial value-added output measures the final results of industrial production, or in other words the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate inputs, such as raw materials and labor costs.

Residents' income

In the first six months of 2011, the per-capita disposable income of urban residents climbed 13.2 percent from a year ago to 11,041 yuan ($1,699) while the per-capita cash income of farmers was 3,706 yuan ($570), up 20.4 percent year on year.

Auto Downturn

China's once red-hot auto markets are braking hard as buyers shun showrooms due to purchasing restrictions and expiring policy incentives.

Auto sales across the nation totaled 1.44 million units in June, up a meager 1.4 percent from a year ago, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

The June figure brought sales for the first half of this year to 9.33 million units, a modest increase of 3.35 percent from a year ago, 29 percentage points slower than the same period of last year. The total output in the first half amounted to 9.16 million units, up 2.48 percent from the previous year, said the CAAM.

"The prospects remain gloomy," said Zhang Xin, an analyst at the Beijing-based Guotai Jun'an Securities Co. Ltd. "July and August will still be challenging for automakers because demand has always been relatively tepid in the summer."

Dong Yang, Secretary General of the CAAM, said he now expects 5-percent growth of overall vehicle sales in China for 2011, down from his earlier forecast of 10-15 percent.

Hi-tech Washers

Chinese electronics maker Haier and U.S. chemical giant Dow Chemical Co. on June 28 announced the introduction of "Magic-Pellets Washing" (MPW), the world's most innovative washing machine technology. The new MPW technology will significantly reduce the water and detergent consumption of laundry, greatly contributing to environmental protection and energy conservation.

The new technology introduces a brand-new element into the washing process—unique washing pellets, which can effectively capture dirt from clothes through absorption, requiring only a small amount of water. The pellets are self-cleaning and reusable, making them a great technology to revolutionize the global laundry industry.

"The less water washing machine, equipped with MPW technology, is a valuable result of the collaboration between the two companies," said Weiguang Yao, CTO of Dow Asia Pacific.

It is estimated that a less water washing machine, powered by MPW technology, will save approximately 70 tons of water and nearly 1,300 kwh of electricity during its lifecycle, and the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions equates to planting six trees.