Recently, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) reported that this year the building materials industry has continued the trend of bottoming out and stabilizing seen since the second half of last year, with production growing steadily and relatively rapidly, economic performance improving, and industrial restructuring continuing to advance.

　　The report shows that from January to August this year, building materials enterprises above designated size completed sales revenue of 2.6 trillion yuan, up 15% year on year. National cement output reached 1.52 billion tons, up 9.2% year on year; flat glass output was 510 million weight cases, up 11% year on year.

　　During the same period, the building materials industry completed fixed asset investment above the designated limit of 789.1 billion yuan, up 14.5% year on year. In terms of investment areas, there was a clear trend of investment shifting toward products and deep-processing products. The top three industries by fixed asset investment above the designated limit were concrete and cement products, stone quarrying and processing for construction, and brick, tile and building block manufacturing, with investment of 127.9 billion yuan, 94.6 billion yuan and 87.5 billion yuan respectively from January to August, up 10.9%, 24.4% and 19.3% year on year.

　　From January to August, the output of commercial concrete by industrial enterprises above designated size was 690 million cubic meters, up 21.6% year on year; prestressed concrete piles reached 190 million meters, up 11.1% year on year; gypsum board output was 1.79 billion square meters, up 34.2% year on year; marble slabs reached 110 million square meters, up 20.6% year on year; granite slabs reached 320 million square meters, up 11.9% year on year; and brick output was 26.08 million pieces, up 13% year on year.

　　However, the NDRC noted that overcapacity in the cement and flat glass industries remains prominent, and structural contradictions remain unresolved. At present, the improvement in the economic benefits of the cement and flat glass industries is attributable to lower purchase prices for raw fuels and materials such as coal, heavy oil and soda ash, which have reduced production costs.

　　The report also shows that for the whole of last year, profits in the building materials industry fell 1.2% year on year. From January to July this year, building materials enterprises above designated size achieved total profits of 139.1 billion yuan, up 21.4% year on year; the profit margin on sales was 6.1%, up 0.3 percentage points year on year.