On July 17, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, a spokesperson delivered a brief report on the main economic data for the first half of this year.

GDP

According to preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of the year reached 59.3 trillion yuan (around 8.14 trillion U.S. dollars), up 5.5% year on year at constant price, 1% faster than that in the first quarter of 2023. In terms of breakdown by industry sector, the value added of the primary industry sector was 3.04 trillion yuan, up 3.7% year on year; that of the secondary industry sector was 23.07 trillion yuan, up 4.3%; and that of the tertiary industry was 33.19 trillion yuan, up 6.4%.

Agricultural production

In the first half of 2023, the value added of agriculture (crop farming) witnessed a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. The total output of summer grain was 146.13 million tonnes, 1.27 million tonnes less than that of the previous year, or down by 0.9%, but still the second highest amount in history.