China's FAI in transportation lost 2.5% in the first quarter, despite overall strong infrastructure growth

The total volume of fixed asset investment (FAI) in transport in China in the period from January to March this year amounted to 651.9 billion yuan ($95.0 billion), which is 2.5 percent less than in the previous year, as announced by the Ministry of Transport of China (MT).p>During the specified period, the FAI in the construction of roads and waterways in China amounted to 443.69 billion yuan ($64.7 billion) and 49.25 billion yuan ($7.2 billion), which is 5.2% and 3.0% less compared to the same period last year, respectively.

The slowdown in investment in transport was the opposite of the general trend observed in the infrastructure segment. In the first three months, the total FAI in China's infrastructure increased by 8.9 percent year-on-year (the reverse trend compared to the downward trend in infrastructure in 2025). While traditional rail, road, and airport projects are expected to be stable this year, "new infrastructure" such as computing centers, 5G and 6G networks, electric vehicle chargers, and low-altitude flight infrastructure will grow rapidly.

The share of the infrastructure sector in China's total steel consumption was 15 percent in 2024. As the share of machinery in total steel usage increases, the share of the infrastructure segment is expected to decrease further.

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