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China coming out of recession – the numbers are mind-numbing…

December 8, 2009

I suppose it’s as if we’ve been cowering in our bunkers for the past year whilst the recession rages around us; banks collapsing, mass unemployment, consumer fear.

We’ve become used to recession.

Poor figures. Bad news.

Agreed –the past few months have shown an improvement but we all know that any recovery is fragile.

So it was with some interest that I arrived in China recently. I had heard of mass redundancies there too – millions losing jobs as factory after factory closed.

What I found was an amazing ‘can do’ attitude by everyone. Yes – the recession had been tough but it was the fault of the US and UK, not Asia, it was explained to me.

In one meeting I had, I was told that the company, a major power in retailing globally, had decided to turn its attention away from the West and to China, which is where the future lay.

Open the South China Morning Post and the numbers are mind-numbing; it stated that growth in mainland China’s industrial and retail output accelerated last month. Industrial production, which accounts for over 40% of China’s economic output, rose 16.1% in October, up from September’s 13.3%. Annual growth would meet the 8% target.

Gordon Brown would be a permanent fixed grin if that was the case in the UK.

Retail sales were up over 16% too, in a sign that the Chinese are shopping again. Looking at the shopping malls and restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing, they certainly are.

Cynics would say that the numbers are massaged. Maybe that’s the case, but I have no doubt that this country is growing rapidly once more. Vehicle sales were up 72% on 2008, with sales of 1.22 million units for October alone. 30 years ago only senior government employees or the very rich owned a car at all.

This is the market of tomorrow. And if there is a wider post recession trend, then it is the rise and rise of Asia.

I for one will be spending more time developing this massive potential over the coming year.

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