China's economy maintains steady momentum in first seven months

From January to July, despite external uncertainties and conflicts, China's national economy remained generally stable, with sustained momentum from new growth drivers and an improved economic structure.

Official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday showed that China's value-added industrial output increased by 5.3% year on year, while that of high-tech manufacturing rose by 13.8%.

In terms of products, the production of 3D printing devices, lithium-ion batteries and industrial robots grew by 52.3%, 40.2% and 28.5% year on year, respectively.

Industrial production grows rapidly

In terms of sectors, the value-added output of the mining sector increased by 2.5%, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 5.6%. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply sectors went up by 5.4%, according to NBS data.

Looking at ownership, the value-added output of state-owned and state-holding enterprises grew 3.9% year on year, while that of private enterprises rose by 4.5%.

Meanwhile, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector stood at 49.2% last month.

From January to June, total profits of China's industrial firms above designated size reached 3.948 trillion yuan (about $581.67 billion), up 18.7% year on year.

Industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.

Sun Xiao, an NBS statistician, said that from January to July, emerging sectors represented by high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing accounted for approximately 50% of industrial output growth, an increase of about 3 percentage points compared to the first six months of the year.

Retail sales of goods, services up 2.6%

China's total retail sales of goods and services, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, increased by 2.6% year on year in the first seven months of 2026, according to the NBS.

Retail sales of services increased by 5% in the January-July period from a year earlier, while those of goods rose by 1.1%.

In the first seven months of the year, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 28.8 trillion yuan (about $4.24 trillion), up 1.2% year on year, the data revealed.

From January to July, online retail sales of goods and services reached 11.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.8% year on year.

Specifically, online retail sales of goods expanded by 4.6%, while online retail sales of services went up by 5.2%, the NBS noted.

Imports and exports of goods grow rapidly

In the first seven months, the total value of imports and exports of goods reached 30,126.4 billion yuan, an increase of 17.3% year on year, according to NBS data.

Specifically, the total value of exports was 17,440.0 billion yuan, up 14.0%, while the total value of imports was 12,686.4 billion yuan, up 22.0%.

In the January-July period, imports and exports of general trade went up by 10.2% year on year. Notably, imports and exports with Belt and Road partner countries grew by 15.5%, while those by private enterprises increased by 17.2%, accounting for 56.9% of the total value of imports and exports.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 21.2%, accounting for 63.8% of the total value of exports. In July, the total value of imports and exports of goods was 4,658.0 billion yuan, up 19.2% year on year, the data revealed.

Specifically, the total value of exports reached 2,712.5 billion yuan, up 17.8%, while the total value of imports was 1,945.4 billion yuan, up 21.2%.

Job market remains generally stable

China's job market has remained generally stable, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate averaging 5.2% in the first seven months of 2026, within the annual target.

The rate was unchanged from both the first six months of the year and the same period last year, according to NBS data.

In July alone, the surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2%, up 0.2 percentage points from June. The NBS attributed the increase to seasonal factors.

China has set a target of keeping the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5% in 2026 and aims to create more than 12 million new urban jobs during the year.

To further boost employment, China released a five-year plan on human resources and social security development in July. Among other targets, the plan aims to help 25 million unemployed urban workers find new jobs and provide employment assistance to 6.5 million people facing difficulties in finding work.

(With input from Xinhua)