National Bureau of Statistics: October Industrial Output Grows 4.9% Year-on-Year, Retail Sales Rise 2.9%

    In October, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, all regions and departments conscientiously implemented the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. They adhered to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, intensified efforts to stabilize employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, deepened the development of a unified national market, and actively facilitated the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. Production and supply remained fundamentally stable, Employment remained generally stable, prices showed improvement, new growth drivers were cultivated and strengthened, and the national economy maintained an overall stable and steady progress development trend.

    I. Industrial Production Continues to Grow, with Equipment Manufacturing and High-Tech Manufacturing Showing Strong Momentum

    In October, the value-added output of large-scale industrial enterprises nationwide increased by 4.9% year-on-year and 0.17% month-on-month. By major industrial category: - Mining: +4.5% YoY - Manufacturing: +4.9% YoY - Electricity, heat, gas, and water production/supply: +5.4% YoY Equipment manufacturing grew 8.0% YoY, while high-tech manufacturing expanded 7.2% YoY—outpacing overall industrial growth by 3.1 and 2.3 percentage points respectively. By economic type, value-added output of state-controlled enterprises grew 6.7% year-on-year; shareholding enterprises grew 5.2%, foreign-funded and Hong Kong/Macao/Taiwan-funded enterprises grew 4.0%, and private enterprises grew 2.1%. By product, output of 3D printing equipment, new energy vehicles, and industrial robots increased 30.8%, 19.3%, and 17.9% year-on-year, respectively. From January to October, the value-added of large-scale industrial enterprises nationwide grew by 6.1% year-on-year. In October, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 49.0%, while the Business Activity Expectations Index reached 52.8%. From January to September, the total profit of large-scale industrial enterprises nationwide reached 5.3732 trillion yuan, up 3.2% year-on-year.

    II. Steady Growth in Services Sector with Strong Development in Modern Services

    In October, the national service production index rose 4.6% year-on-year. By sector, the production indices for information transmission, software, and IT services; leasing and business services; and finance increased by 13.0%, 8.2%, and 5.6% respectively, outpacing the overall service production index by 8.4, 3.6, and 1.0 percentage points. From January to October, the national service production index grew by 5.7% year-on-year. From January to September, operating revenues of large-scale service enterprises increased by 7.6% year-on-year. In October, the business activity index for services stood at 50.2%, while the business activity expectations index reached 56.1%. Among these, industries such as rail transport, air transport, postal services, accommodation, and cultural, sports, and entertainment activities recorded business activity indices at or above the high-prosperity threshold of 60.0%.

    III. Market Sales Expand, Service Retail Growth Accelerates

    In October, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.6291 trillion yuan, up 2.9% year-on-year and 0.16% month-on-month. By location, urban retail sales amounted to 4.0021 trillion yuan, rising 2.7% year-on-year, while rural retail sales reached 627 billion yuan, increasing 4.1%. By consumption type, retail sales of goods reached 4.1092 trillion yuan, up 2.8%, while catering revenue amounted to 519.9 billion yuan, rising 3.8%. Essential living goods and certain upgraded consumption categories saw relatively rapid growth. Among large-scale enterprises, retail sales of grain, oil, and food products, communication equipment, cultural and office supplies, and sports and entertainment goods increased by 9.1%, 23.2%, 13.5%, and 10.1% year-on-year, respectively. From January to October, total retail sales of consumer goods reached 41.2169 trillion yuan, up 4.3% year-on-year. National online retail sales amounted to 12.7916 trillion yuan, rising 9.6% year-on-year. Among these, online retail sales of physical goods totaled 10.3984 trillion yuan, increasing by 6.3% and accounting for 25.2% of total retail sales of consumer goods. From January to October, service retail sales grew by 5.3% year-on-year, accelerating by 0.1 percentage points compared to the first three quarters. Among these, cultural and recreational services, communication and information services, tourism, consulting, and leasing services, as well as transportation services, saw relatively rapid growth.

    IV. Fixed Asset Investment Declines Year-on-Year, Manufacturing Investment Continues to Grow

    From January to October, national fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) totaled 40.8914 trillion yuan, down 1.7% year-on-year. Excluding real estate development investment, national fixed asset investment grew by 1.7%. By sector, infrastructure investment decreased by 0.1% year-on-year, manufacturing investment increased by 2.7%, and real estate development investment fell by 14.7%. Nationwide sales area of newly built commercial housing reached 719.82 million square meters, down 6.8% year-on-year; sales value of newly built commercial housing totaled 6.9017 trillion yuan, down 9.6%. By sector, investment in the primary industry increased by 2.9% year-on-year, investment in the secondary industry grew by 4.8%, while investment in the tertiary industry decreased by 5.3%. Private investment decreased by 4.5% year-on-year. Excluding real estate development investment, private investment increased by 0.2%. Within high-tech industries, investment in information services, aircraft, spacecraft, and equipment manufacturing, and computer and office equipment manufacturing increased by 32.7%, 19.7%, and 4.1% year-on-year, respectively. In October, fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) decreased by 1.62% month-on-month.

    V. Goods Import and Export Maintains Growth, Trade Structure Continues to Optimize

    In October, the total value of goods import and export reached 3.7028 trillion yuan, up 0.1% year-on-year. Of this, exports amounted to 2.1716 trillion yuan, down 0.8%; imports reached 1.5311 trillion yuan, up 1.4%. From January to October, total goods imports and exports reached 37.309 trillion yuan, up 3.6% year-on-year. Exports amounted to 22.1146 trillion yuan, rising 6.2%, while imports totaled 15.1944 trillion yuan, remaining flat year-on-year. During this period, general trade imports and exports grew by 2.3%, accounting for 63.4% of total imports and exports. Trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 5.9%. Imports and exports by private enterprises grew by 7.2%, accounting for 57.0% of total imports and exports, an increase of 1.9 percentage points over the same period last year. Exports of mechanical and electrical products grew by 8.7%, accounting for 60.7% of total exports.

    VI. Employment Situation Generally Stable, Urban Surveyed Unemployment Rate Declines

    From January to October, the average urban surveyed unemployment rate nationwide was 5.2%. In October, the national urban surveyed unemployment rate stood at 5.1%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The surveyed unemployment rate for local registered labor force was 5.3%; for non-local registered labor force, it was 4.7%, with the rate for non-local agricultural registered labor force at 4.5%. The surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.1%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month. The average weekly working hours for employees in enterprises nationwide was 48.4 hours.

    VII. Consumer Prices Turned Upward, Industrial Producer Price Decline Narrowed

    In October, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% year-on-year, compared with a 0.3% decline in the previous month; and rose 0.2% month-on-month. By category, prices for food, tobacco, and alcohol fell 1.6% year-on-year, while clothing prices rose 1.7%, housing prices increased 0.1%, prices for daily necessities and services climbed 1.9%, transportation and communication prices dropped 1.5%, education, culture, and entertainment prices rose 0.9%, healthcare prices increased 1.4%, and prices for other goods and services surged 12.8%. Within food, tobacco, and alcohol, pork prices fell 16.0%, fresh vegetable prices dropped 7.3%, fresh fruit prices decreased 2.0%, and grain prices declined 0.7%. Core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, rose 1.2% year-on-year, with the increase expanding by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. From January to October, the national consumer price index fell 0.1% year-on-year.

    In October, the national producer price index (PPI) fell 2.1% year-on-year, narrowing the decline by 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, while rising 0.1% month-on-month. The national purchase price index for industrial producers fell 2.7% year-on-year, narrowing the decline by 0.4 percentage points, and rose 0.1% month-on-month. From January to October, the national PPI and PPI for purchases fell by 2.7% and 3.2% year-on-year, respectively.

    Overall, the national economy maintained steady operation in October, with solid progress in transformation and upgrading, and continued growth in new drivers of development. However, it should also be noted that the external environment remains fraught with instability and uncertainty, while domestic structural adjustment pressures are significant, presenting numerous challenges to stable economic operation. In the next phase, we must adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, thoroughly implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, uphold the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, expand domestic demand in all dimensions, focus on stabilizing employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, actively promote the continuous implementation and effectiveness of macro policies, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, further strengthen innovation-driven development, and promote effective improvement in economic quality and reasonable growth in quantity.