The majority of capital goods in China posted lower prices in early February 2023 compared with late January. Of the 50 goods monitored by the government, which include seamless steel tubes, gasoline, coal, fertilizer and some agricultural products mainly used for processing, 12 posted higher prices, and 35 saw prices decline, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The figures are published every 10 days and are based on a survey of nearly 2,000 wholesalers and distributors in 31 provincial-level regions across the country.
The Excavator Index showed that the operating rate of construction machinery has gone up steadily since the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year. There has been a surge in construction projects nationwide, with significant increases in Beijing, Hebei, Henan, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong.
The index is based on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform of ROOTCLOUD, an industrial internet service provider, and tracks the operating rate of hundreds of thousands of construction machinery across the country.