China’s economic recovery continued to pick up steam in November, official data showed, with major indicators accelerating from the previous month, though retail sales growth failed to meet expectations.
Retail sales rose 5% year-on-year in November, picking up from a pace of 4.3% growth in October, according to data (link in Chinese) from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. Still, the reading came in below the median forecast for a 5.5% increase in a Caixin survey (link in Chinese) of economists.
The NBS was upbeat about the consumption recovery, citing growing employment and improving company profits. It noted the importance of consumption, which failed to meet expectations even though its growth accelerated in November from the previous month. “Consumption is still a crucial engine for China’s sustained and healthy economic development, because we can see that consumption’s contribution has played a leading role in economic growth in recent years,” Fu Linghui, an NBS spokesman, said at a Tuesday briefing (link in Chinese).
Value-added industrial output, which measures production by factories, mines and utilities, grew 7% year-on-year (link in Chinese) in November, up from a 6.9% increase the previous month and beating the median forecast in the Caixin survey for 6.9% growth.
Fixed-asset investment, a key driver of domestic demand, grew 2.6% year-on-year (link in Chinese) in the first 11 months, accelerating from a 1.8% rise in the first 10 months. The rate was better than the median forecast of 2.5% growth in the Caixin survey.
Infrastructure investment, which consists of spending on road and railway construction and is generally led by the government, rose 1% year-on-year in the first 11 months, up from a 0.7% rise in the first 10 months.
Investment in real estate development rose 6.8% year-on-year (link in Chinese) in the first 11 months, accelerating from a 6.3% rise in the January-to-October period.
The labor market also improved as China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate eased to 5.2% in November from 5.3% the previous month, declining for four months in a row, NBS data (link in Chinese) showed.
Contact reporter Guo Yingzhe (yingzheguo@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
