Opinion

Economic operation gets off to a solid start

In the first two months of 2026, China's value-added industrial output went up 6.3 percent year on year, the production index of the service industry grew by 5.2 percent year on year, total retail sales of consumer goods rose by 2.8 percent year on year, and total goods imports and exports expanded by 18.3 percent year on year. The paces were respectively 1.1. 0.2, 1.9, and 13.4 percentage points faster than the level in December last year. National fixed assets investment increased by 1.8 percent year on year, reversing its previous decline... The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that since the beginning of this year, various regions and departments have conscientiously implemented more proactive and effective macro policies. The economic operation has achieved a steady start and laid a solid foundation for sound economic development.

Robust boost from demand expansion. China Adheres to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. Expanding economic and trade exchanges with countries around the world, promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and actively advancing digital trade and green trade will open up new space for foreign trade development. Intensifying the construction of new types of infrastructure and people's livelihood infrastructure, and strengthening the guarantee of projects, production factors, and funds will help drive investment growth. Formulating and implementing plans to increase urban and rural residents' income, promoting the expansion and upgrading of commodity consumption, and implementing actions to improve the quality and benefit of service consumption will help enhance residents' consumption capacity and willingness.

Solid underpinning from industrial upgrading. The leading role of innovation-driven development is strengthening, emerging industries are growing and maturing, and their supporting role in production is increasing. The application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence is expanding rapidly, playing an increasingly significant role in transforming and upgrading traditional industries and developing emerging industries. The green industry is flourishing, injecting new impetus into industrial upgrading.

Strong support from macro policies. The Central Economic Work Conference and China's “two sessions” have made comprehensive plans for this year's economic work. Fiscal policy will be more proactive, with expenditures expected to reach RMB 30 trillion for the first time. Monetary policy will be moderately accommodative, maintaining reasonably ample liquidity, promoting the low-level operation of overall social financing costs, and strengthening the coordination of reform measures and macro policies. These will help enhance momentum and stimulate vitality.

Policy

1. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently launched the industrial data foundation action, which will focus on developing high-quality industry datasets for artificial intelligence empowerment. It proposes to cultivate a number of industry data cooperation consortia and empower the application of a number of industry-specific large models and industrial intelligent agents by the end of 2026.

2. China has unveiled a new list of 13 major foreign-funded projects with a planned investment of 13.4 billion U.S. dollars. The new batch of projects is mainly in the manufacturing sector, including electronics, chemicals, automobiles and electrical machinery, aiming to accelerate the development of industrial clusters, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Data

1. Electricity delivered from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to other parts of China hit 30.8 billion kWh by March 11, 14 days faster than last year's pace in surpassing the 30 billion mark. It also set a record for the shortest time to reach this scale.

2. According to a report released by the National Greening Commission, China's forest and grass coverage rate exceeded 56 percent in 2025, its afforestation areas surpassed 3.56 million hectares, and it also restored nearly 4.93 million hectares of degraded grassland last year. Meanwhile, China's forest coverage rate has reached 25.09 percent, with forest stock volume totaling almost 20.99 billion cubic meters. Last year, the output value of China's forestry and grassland industry reached nearly RMB 11 trillion.

3. The China-Europe Railway Express handled 3,501 freight trips in the first two months of this year, carrying 352,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of goods, up 32 percent and 25 percent year on year, respectively. With stronger brand's competitiveness in international logistics, efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of train operations will continue, so as to provide safe, high-quality and efficient international logistics services to domestic and overseas clients.

4. In the first two months of this year, several regions in China posted impressive foreign trade performance, including the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, nine provinces along the Yellow River basin, and the Yangtze River Delta. The nine mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area recorded RMB 1.57 trillion in imports and exports, up 22.4 percent year on year. The nine provinces along the Yellow River basin saw their imports and exports reach RMB 1.09 trillion, an increase of 15.4 percent. The Yangtze River Delta region's foreign trade exceeded RMB 3 trillion, setting a new historical high.

5. The cargo throughput of ports along the Yangtze River is expected to hit 403 million tons during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period in 2026, an increase of 6.33 percent compared to the same period in 2025, the river administration announced recently.

6. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's economy got off to a robust and promising start in the first two months. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 8.61 trillion from January to February, up 2.8 percent year on year. The total value of imports and exports of goods was RMB 7,732.1 billion, up by 18.3 percent year on year.

7. The Hong Kong Tourism Board recently announced that 9.95 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong in the first two months of 2026, an increase of 18 percent over the same period last year. Of these visitors, 7.9 million were from the Chinese mainland, marking a 22 percent year-on-year rise.

8. The China Development Bank said that it has issued loans totaling RMB 75.8 billion to advanced manufacturing and strategic emerging sectors in the first two months of the year, an increase of 23 percent compared to the same period last year.

9. China's auto exports surged 48.4 percent year on year in January-February 2026 to 1.352 million units, extending a robust growth trend, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

10. China's aquaculture production reached 63.24 million tonnes in 2025, accounting for about 56 percent of the global total. As the world's largest aquaculture producer, China delivers premium aquatic products to markets worldwide.

(Source: Economic Daily)