China's industrial output sees growth extended in Jan.-May period

 China's value-added industrial output continued its year-on-year growth in the first five months of 2026, strongly underpinned by the performances of the equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors.

The value-added industrial output increased by 5.4 percent year on year during this period. In May alone, industrial output grew 4.5 percent year on year, and rose 0.4 percent compared to the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.

This industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.94 million U.S. dollars).

In terms of sectors, the value-added output of the mining sector increased by 2.3 percent year on year in May, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 4.4 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply sectors went up by 7.6 percent, the data showed.

The data also revealed that value-added output of equipment manufacturing increased by 9.5 percent year on year while that of high-tech manufacturing grew by 15.1 percent.

In terms of ownership, the value-added output of state-owned and state-holding enterprises grew 3.7 percent year on year, and that of private enterprises rose 2.7 percent.

In terms of products, meanwhile, the production of 3D printing devices, lithium-ion batteries and industrial robots during this period surged by 54.4 percent, 40 percent and 27.9 percent year on year, respectively.

The NBS further noted that in the first four months of 2026, total profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size were roughly 2.43 trillion yuan, up 18.2 percent year on year. ■