A view of the one-stop administrative service center of the Lingang Special Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. (Photo: Xinhua)

Enterprise registrations in China jumped in April to a record high of 830,300, according to data from Qichacha, a major enterprise credit investigation agency, the Economic Daily reported on Saturday.

China's economy is expected to take a slow U-turn this year, thanks to work resumption underway for two months and economic activity getting back on track, the macro strategy team from Ping'an Securities said.

The supply side will regain footing faster than the demand side, the team said, adding that recovery in investment will be faster than consumption, foreign trade will suffer from the slowest restoration and recovery in secondary industries will happen prior to tertiary industries.

In regional terms, Guangdong recorded 234,900 enterprise registrations from February to April, the highest among provincial-level regions, followed by Shandong with 173,600, Jiangsu with 123,100, and Zhejiang with 117,100. Heavily stricken by COVID-19, Hubei nearly bottomed the list, recording 26,500. Among these, there were merely 185 and 3,862 enterprises filing their registrations in February and March.

In industrial terms, the wholesale and retail sectors saw the most registrations, with 708,400. The rental and business service sectors saw the second-largest registration, 224,200. Industries such as manufacturing, construction, information transmission, software and IT services and scientific research and technology services all enjoy 50,000-plus registrations.

Evergrande Research Institute said in its report China is turning the COVID-19 crisis into opportunity. The business operation environment is improving, big enterprises are in better condition in every aspect of production, demanding and operating expectations. But small-and-medium-sized enterprises still need policy bailouts.

The institute has advocated a batch of policies in financing and social security to alleviate SMEs from hardship since the outbreak of COVID-19. But they are still facing relatively big challenges in operating. To prevent a large scale shutdown of SMEs, continuous attention should be paid on their survival and supporting policies should be advanced sustainably.