No sign of the Chinese economy fading in the final quarter of 2010 or in the month of December.
In fact growth remains solid, above 10% for the latest quarter on an annual basis and for the year as a whole, and inflation showed signs of easing from the 28 month high in November.
Steel production, oil output, retail sales and industrial production as a whole were also solid.
For Australia, it’s the sort of news that won’t cause any worries, although some analysts claimed the market was being weighed down by fears of possible further rate rises.
(But then we have to remember that the same analysts would be concerned if the economy slowed too much).
For all those hedge funds and other China bears, it’s a further refutation of their belief that China is heading for a crash.
But the latest figures don’t rule out the possibility of a hard landing this year, especially if inflation remains high and bank lending and foreign reserves continue to swell sharply.
China’s rate of growth quickened in the 4th quarter to an annual 9.8%, up from 9.6% in the three months to September.
GDP expanded by 10.3% for the 2010 year, up from the 9.2%, restated from the original 9.1% rate, for 2009.
The government had set the full-year growth target at 8% in early 2010.
Consumer prices rose 4.6% in December from a year earlier, slowing from a 28-month high of 5.1% in November.
For 2010 as a whole, consumer prices rose 3.3% topping the government target of 3% for 2010, now set at 4% for 2011.
Economists had forecast fourth-quarter growth of 9.2% and 4.4% consumer price inflation in December.
The CPI rose 0.5% in December from the previous month after a 1.1% month-on-month jump in November. This figure is not seasonally adjusted.
Giving a breakdown of CPI, the National Bureau of Statistics said food prices rose 9.6% in the year to December (down from 11.7% in the year to November), while non-food prices were up 2.1% a year earlier, which was about steady on the November rate.
The producer price index increased 5.9% in December from a year earlier, down slightly from the 6.1% rate in the year to November and averaged 5.5% through 2010.
The Producer Price Index rose 0.7% between December and November after a 1.4% rise in November.
Urban fixed-asset investment was up 24.5% in 2010.
Retail sales grew at an annual 19.1% in December, partly boosted by inflation (and 18.4% for the year as a whole), and industrial production rose 13.3% in December and 15.7% for the year as a whole.
Steel production rose 6.3% in December to 51.52 million tonnes.
For 2010, steel production totaled a record 626.66 million tonnes, up 9.3% from 2009.
Oil production for the year was up nearly 7% to 203 million tonnes. cement output jumped by more than 15% to 1.875 billion tonnes and power consumption and car sales were both sharply higher.
GDP in 2010 totalled 39.798 trillion Yuan ($US6.045 trillion).
Earlier figures have shown a small fall in the trade surplus in 2010, a $US199 billion jump in the size of the country’s reserves in the final quarter and a further easing of the pressures on house prices.
The central bank raised reserve ratios for the largest banks to 19% last Friday. That was after six similar increases last year and rate rises in October and on Christmas Day.
But reports yesterday suggested these increases, plus two rate rises, had not any impact on bank lending.
Local-currency lending has already exceeded 1 trillion Yuan so far this month, according to a report in the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
That was more than double the lending of 481 billion Yuan in December.
Now there seems to be a new approach to trying to control this unchecked lending.
There won’t be an absolute target set and banks will be ‘jawboned’ regularly by regulators with the aim to cut lending by around 10%.
According to Beijing media reports earlier in the week Chinese banks can extend between 7.2 trillion Yuan and 7.5 trillion Yuan ($A1.1 trillion and $A1.15 trillion) in new loans this year.
Previous state media reports said the central bank was unlikely to release an official lending target this year after new loans in 2010 hit 7.95 trillion Yuan, exceeding the 7.5 trillion-Yuan official target.
But the central bank can still impose restrictions on loans because it must approve banks’ annual lending plans, the report said.
And Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying on Tuesday said that the government will focus on reining in food prices and the housing market in an outline of the government’s key work for the first quarter.
He was said to have told a meeting of the State Council, or cabinet, that better monitoring of commodity prices and improved supply of major agricultural products, daily necessities, and production materials, was required.
And he ordered authorities to help farmers prepare for winter and spring ploughing, and help those affected by drought and icy weather.
To ensure sound development of the real estate sector, Wen urged authorities to "increase supply of commercial residential building available at medium or low prices," curb property speculation, and enhance supervision.
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