China News recently reported on research results that the China Entrepreneurs Survey System (CESS) had released. The CESS is a research institute jointly established by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the National Bureau of Statistics, and four other government agencies. According to the research, 23.1 percent of the company owners surveyed claimed that, at the time of the survey, their companies were either “shutdown” or “semi-shutdown.” This number is the highest in three years. The key reasons cited for the situation were a decline in orders, inventory pressure, and dropping prices. The health of privately owned companies was worse than for those that were state-owned. Most of the troubled companies were small to medium sized ones. Over a quarter of the companies expressed the belief that their inventory level was “higher than usual.” Half of the companies suffered a “lower than usual” order level. Most of the troubled companies were in mining, chemical fiber, non-ferrous metals, general equipment, and automobile and other transportation equipment industries.
Source: China News, November 17, 2012
http://finance.chinanews.com/cj/2012/11-17/4336528.shtml