Industrial output in Shanghai falls for first time in 2 years

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBEIJING Reuters Industrial output in Shanghai, Chinas most populous city, slumped in March, the first monthly decline in two years, after stringent lockdown measures halted production in some factories, a city official said on Friday. p

pIndustrial production dropped by 7.5 yearonyear, Wu Jincheng, chairman of Shanghais economic planning agency, said at a press conference. Monthly output last fell in March 2020. pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

p“The latest virus outbreak has greatly impacted the city‘s industrial activities, leading to March’s output being down 7.5 yearonyear,” Wu said. p

pThe citys industrial output growth in the first quarter slowed to 4.8 on a year earlier, Wu said. p

pThe reading excludes the smallest factories and there were no published comparative data for the fourth quarter of 2021. p

pShanghai, a advanced manufacturing hub, houses factories including those of Tesla, top Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp and the mainland China headquarters of many international companies.p

pIn 2021, valueadded output of the citys industrial sector hit 1 trillion yuan 154.61 billion for the first time and was the highest among all cities nationwide.p

pAs Shanghai battled the latest COVID resurgence amid a lockdown, Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on April 15 it had identified 666 companies in Shanghai it would help to resume production.p

pThe Shanghai Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said on Thursday it would step up financial support to help with the resumption of production in the city of 25 million people.p

p1 6.4679 yuanp

p Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Bradley Perrettp

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