China’s official statistics may be lagging behind independent data that show a pick-up in the economy last quarter, according to a new private survey modeled on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s “Beige Book”. The “China Beige Book”, in interviews of about 2,000 company executives and bankers, found retail sales and manufacturing strengthened while property sales increased and shortages of unskilled labor failed to abate. New York-based CBB International conducted the survey. The report said four of every five retailers see higher sales in six months, a bigger proportion than in the first quarter, contrasting with government data showing the weakest non-holiday sales growth since 2006 in May. Bankers foresee growing availability of loans and 46% of companies intend to borrow, “suggesting a fairly stable rise in credit demand”. “These findings diverge considerably from the current ‘gloom and doom’ narratives,” CBB President Leland Miller and Craig Charney, Director of Research and Polling, said. The official data probably lagged CBB’s data by one to three months and might reflect a pickup by “mid- to late summer”, they said. “The economy as a whole is now strengthening modestly” and credit was “fairly loose”, Miller said. “[Quarterly] growth was particularly evident by June in consumer spending and real estate, while agriculture and mining also showed improvement.” In the second quarterly “China Beige Book” survey, property agents reported higher second-quarter revenue doubled to almost 60%, manufacturers recorded sales increased 3 percentage points to 63%, and the number of retailers with increased sales climbed 5 percentage points to 68%. Retailers expected spending to strengthen further and 71% of manufacturers foresaw higher revenue in six months, the survey said, indicating a reduced need for further stimulus measures. The data contrasted with the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index released by HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics, which fell last month to the lowest level since November, showing a contraction for an eighth straight month, the South China Morning Post reports.