China Industrial Output Up 4.1% in April, Tech Sector Leads

China's industrial output grew 4.1% year-on-year in April, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on May 18 showed, with strong gains in technology and automotive sectors offsetting weakness in construction-related materials.

Above-scale industrial value-added output rose 4.1% in April from a year earlier, while the January-April cumulative growth held at 5.6%. On a monthly basis, industrial output edged up 0.05% in April from March.

Sector Breakdown

Among the three major industrial categories, the utilities sector — covering electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply — posted the strongest gain at 5.3% year-on-year in April. Manufacturing grew 4.0%, while mining expanded 3.8%.

By ownership type, joint-stock enterprises grew 4.2% and foreign-invested firms, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, rose 4.1%. State-controlled enterprises expanded 3.0%, while private firms posted the slowest growth at 2.8%.

Industry-Level Performance

Of 41 major industrial subsectors tracked, 29 recorded year-on-year output growth in April.

Computers, communications and other electronic equipment manufacturing led all sectors with a 15.6% surge. Automobile manufacturing climbed 9.2%, and railway, ship, aerospace and other transport equipment production rose 8.2%. Specialised equipment manufacturing grew 6.2%, matching the pace of electricity and heat production and supply, while general equipment manufacturing increased 5.5%.

Chemical raw materials and products manufacturing expanded 5.3%. Coal mining and washing rose 3.8%, oil and gas extraction gained 4.6%, and textile manufacturing increased 2.3%.

On the downside, non-metallic mineral products fell 6.5%. The beverages, liquor and refined tea sector declined 1.4%, non-ferrous metal smelting dropped 1.0%, and ferrous metal smelting posted marginal growth of 1.0%.

Key Product Output

Among 626 industrial products tracked, 321 recorded year-on-year output growth in April.

New energy vehicles bucked a broader automotive decline, rising 3.8% to 1.296 million units, even as total vehicle output fell 2.6% to 2.564 million units. Power generation increased 2.6% to 744 billion kilowatt-hours, and non-ferrous metals output grew 2.8% to 6.94 million tonnes.

Steel products output fell 1.7% to 122.63 million tonnes, cement production dropped 10.8% to 145.71 million tonnes, crude oil processing declined 5.8% to 54.65 million tonnes, and ethylene output slipped 4.1% to 3.15 million tonnes.

Sales and Export

The product sales ratio for above-scale industrial enterprises stood at 97.1% in April, down 0.2 percentage points year-on-year.

Export delivery values reached 1.3733 trillion yuan in April, up 10.6% in nominal terms from a year earlier.