China Industrial Output Rises 4.5% in May on Tech Surge

China's industrial output expanded at a faster pace in May, with value-added production from major industrial enterprises rising 4.5% year on year in real terms, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on June 16, accelerating 0.4 percentage points from the prior month's pace.

On a month-on-month basis, industrial value-added output grew 0.40% in May. For the January-to-May period, cumulative output growth held at 5.4% year on year.

Output by Sector

Across the three main industrial categories in May, value-added output in the mining sector rose 2.3% year on year, manufacturing gained 4.4%, and electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply climbed 7.6%.

By ownership type, state-controlled enterprises posted value-added growth of 3.7%, while share-holding enterprises grew 5.2%. Foreign-invested enterprises, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, rose 1.9%, and private enterprises expanded 2.7%.

Industry-Level Performance

Of 41 major industrial sub-sectors, 28 recorded year-on-year output growth in May. Among them, coal mining and washing rose 3.5%, oil and gas extraction gained 1.5%, and agricultural and food processing expanded 1.5%. Liquor, beverage and refined tea manufacturing contracted 2.7%, while textiles grew 2.6%.

Chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing edged up 0.3%, non-metallic mineral products fell 5.6%, and ferrous metal smelting and rolling grew 1.6%. Non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling declined 4.5%.

Equipment manufacturing segments posted notably strong gains: general-purpose machinery rose 6.7%, special-purpose machinery grew 9.1%, and automobile manufacturing expanded 8.3%. Railway, ship, aerospace and other transport equipment manufacturing rose 7.4%, electrical machinery and apparatus gained 4.7%, and computers, communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing surged 17.0%. Electricity and heat production and supply grew 8.7%.

Key Product Volumes

Of 626 tracked industrial products, 300 recorded output growth year on year in May.

Steel materials output reached 123.03 million tonnes, down 2.8% year on year. Cement production fell 8.1% to 149.91 million tonnes. Output of ten major non-ferrous metals rose 2.2% to 6.98 million tonnes, while ethylene production increased 2.1% to 3.38 million tonnes.

Automobile production totalled 2.582 million units, down 3.2% year on year, though new energy vehicles within that figure reached 1.489 million units — a gain of 17.8%. Power generation rose 4.2% to 784.3 billion kilowatt-hours. Crude oil processing fell 9.1% to 53.72 million tonnes.

Sales and Exports

The product sales rate among major industrial enterprises stood at 96.0% in May, down 0.1 percentage points year on year. Export delivery value reached 1,388.4 billion yuan, up 10.1% in nominal terms year on year.