China sees strong industrial output, but slowing investment and retail sales in April

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Industrial output grows seven percent, beats expectations

China's industrial output expanded at an unexpected rate of seven percent from a year earlier in April, an increase of one percent from that of March, fresh data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

In the first four months, industrial output rose by 6.9 percent, quickening from the 6.8-percent gain in the first quarter.

A breakdown of the data showed that the industrial structure continued to improve, with production in high-tech industries and the equipment manufacturing sector expanding by 11.8 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively, last month.

Output of new energy vehicles saw a surge of 82.2 percent year-on-year during the period, while industrial robot production jumped by 35.4 percent, NBS data showed.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about three million US dollars).

Investment growth eases

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China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) slowed to seven percent in the first four months of the year, down from 7.5 percent for January-March.

This marked growth deceleration for two consecutive months. The pace was down from 8.9 percent registered during the same period of last year.

On a monthly basis, the FAI edged up 0.52 percent in April.

NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said although FAI growth eased, the structure of investment continued to optimize, with more support for economic transformation and improving supplies.

Infrastructure investment increased 12.4 percent year-on-year for January-April, slightly down from 13 percent in the first three months.

Property development investment expanded 10.3 percent year on year for January-April, slightly down from 10.4 percent during the first quarter.

Housing sales measured by floor area grew 1.3 percent during the period, with the growth down from 3.6 percent for January-March.

Retail sales growth slows

Retail sales rose 9.4 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing from the 10.1 percent increase in March.

Sales in rural areas gained 10.6 percent in April, outpacing the 9.2 percent in urban areas, the data showed.

In breakdown, the catering sector reported a 9.6-percent year-on-year rise in revenue, while sales of other consumer products increased 9.4 percent.

Online spending continued to be robust, with sales surging 32.4 percent to reach 2.58 trillion yuan in the Jan.-April period, up 0.4 percentage points than the same period last year.

Consumption has been a key economic driver for China and contributed to 77.8 percent of economic growth in the first quarter, up from 58.8 percent in 2017.

(With input from Xinhua)