China’s Industrial Output Accelerates in May, High-Tech Sectors Drive Upward Momentum

According to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s value-added industrial output of enterprises above designated size registered a 4.5 per cent year-on-year rise in May, marking a 0.4 percentage point pick-up from April’s reading. The month-on-month growth stood at 0.40 per cent. Cumulative output for the first five months of the year expanded by 5.4 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.

Breakdowns across three major industrial divisions show divergent growth trajectories for May. Mining sector value added rose 2.3 per cent year on year, manufacturing expanded by 4.4 per cent, while production and supply of electric power, heat power, gas and water posted a 7.6 per cent year-on-year increase. Equipment manufacturing saw its value added jump 9.5 per cent, 1.2 percentage points faster than April, and high-tech manufacturing recorded a 15.1 per cent annual gain, accelerating by 2.3 percentage points month-on-month.

Disaggregated by ownership categories, state-holding industrial enterprises delivered a 3.7 per cent year-on-year expansion in May. Joint-stock enterprises logged growth of 5.2 per cent, firms funded by foreign investors and investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan edged up 1.9 per cent, and private industrial enterprises posted a 2.7 per cent year-on-year rise.

Twenty-eight out of the 41 major industrial sub-sectors secured positive year-on-year growth in May. Coal mining and washing saw output expand by 3.5 per cent, while extraction of petroleum and natural gas inched up 1.5 per cent. Agricultural and sideline food processing registered a 1.5 per cent rise, whereas manufacturing of wine, beverages and refined tea slipped 2.7 per cent. Textile production grew 2.6 per cent, and manufacture of chemical raw materials and chemical products eked out a 0.3 per cent annual gain. 

Non-metallic mineral products dropped 5.6 per cent, smelting and pressing of ferrous metals climbed 1.6 per cent, and smelting and pressing of non-ferrous metals fell 4.5 per cent. General-purpose equipment manufacturing rose 6.7 per cent, special-purpose equipment manufacturing surged 9.1 per cent, and automobile manufacturing posted an 8.3 per cent increase. 

Manufacture of railway, ship, aerospace and other transport equipment grew 7.4 per cent, electrical machinery and apparatus manufacturing expanded 4.7 per cent, and manufacture of computers, communications and other electronic equipment led all tracked sectors with a 17.0 per cent year-on-year jump. Production and supply of electric power and heat power recorded a growth rate of 8.7 per cent.

In terms of major industrial products, 300 out of 626 tracked product categories registered year-on-year output increases in May. Crude steel output reached 123.03 million tonnes, down 2.8 per cent annually, while cement production totalled 149.91 million tonnes, falling 8.1 per cent. Output of ten major non-ferrous metals hit 6.98 million tonnes, up 2.2 per cent, and ethylene output stood at 3.38 million tonnes with a 2.1 per cent year-on-year rise. Total automobile production reached 2.582 million units, a 3.2 per cent annual drop, within which new energy vehicle output hit 1.489 million units, climbing 17.8 per cent. Electricity generation amounted to 784.3 billion kilowatt-hours, rising 4.2 per cent, and crude oil processing volume came to 53.72 million tonnes, slipping 9.1 per cent.

British market research institutions have tracked the consistent strength of China’s high-end manufacturing segments over recent months, with digital and green industrial lines sustaining robust expansion. Domestic industrial policy frameworks continue to channel support toward technological upgrading and the scaling-up of advanced manufacturing capacity, which will keep reinforcing the growth momentum of high-value industrial segments in subsequent months. Traditional heavy industrial segments will see further structural adjustments to align production capacity with domestic and overseas market demand changes.