CHINA has suspended the release of output data for several key commodities amid a crackdown on the illegal sale of State statistics by government officials.

    With Chinese economic growth at a 25-year low, the lack of such data makes it increasingly difficult for economists to gauge the strength of local demand as the government tries to avert a faster slowdown.

    Key monthly output numbers for several oil and metal products over the first quarter have still not been published, and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has also failed to release regional data for products like coal, steel and electricity since the turn of the year.

    Officially, the NBS only releases a few key commodities statistics through its website, though more detailed numbers have been made available through unofficial channels, including third-party distributors and industry consultancies.

    Most of those numbers have now dried up after China’s corruption watchdog, the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI), launched a probe into “disciplinary violations” at the NBS last October.

    The bureau head, Wang Baoan, was removed from his post in late February after being put under formal investigation.

    The CCDI said last week that hundreds of staff working for the statistics bureau had been using official data for personal gain.

    It said “individuals were not permitted to receive any royalties, editorial fees or labor fees” for the publication of NBS data, and 313 officials were now in the process of being indicted.

    “Since the inspection team moved into the statistical bureau, there were apparently some investigations into the various ways key economic data were distributed,” said a researcher with a State-backed industry association.

    “We are not getting them either,” said the researcher, who did not want to be named.

    Production numbers for gasoline, diesel and kerosene for the first three months of the year have now been released after long delays.

    But other figures, including data supplied by the bureau to third-party agencies, have not been made available since November 2015. The data still missing include monthly production figures for base metals as well as oil products like liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha and fuel oil.

    An official at the National Bureau of Statistics said the data releases had been “temporarily suspended,” adding that it was likely that the amount of data made available to the public would be restricted.

    Other missing numbers include provincial breakdowns for steel production and power generation. The suspension has affected news agencies such as Reuters as well as Chinese consultancies such as Mysteel, Antaike and ICIS, and industry bodies like the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.(SD-Agencies)