China’s Industrial Output Rises 4.9% in October; Retail Sales and Trade Also Expand
China’s industrial activity continued to show solid momentum in October, with industrial output rising 4.9 percent year-on-year , according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) . Growth was driven notably by equipment manufacturing , which expanded 8 percent , and high-tech manufacturing , which surged 7.2 percen
t . Retail sales also posted an improvement, reaching 4.63 trillion yuan (approximately $661 billion ) in October—an increase of 2.9 percent compared with the same month last year. China’s foreign goods trade totaled 3.7 trillion yuan for the month, posting a modest 0.1 percent year-on-year increase. However, despite the October growth, fixed-asset investment for the first 10 months of 2025 recorded a 1.7 percent decline , reflecting ongoing pressure in the property and infrastructure sectors. The job market remained broadly stable, with the national surveyed urban unemployment rate easing to 5.1 percent , down 0.1 percentage points from September.