Factory output and retail sales on the rise in China

China's value-added industrial output expanded 4.8 percent year on year in November, official data showed on Monday. In the first 11 months of this year, industrial output increased by six percent compared with same period in 2024, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. Industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan. A breakdown of the data showed that the mining sector's value-added output increased by 6.3 percent year on year last month while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 4.6 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply sectors rose by 4.3 percent. Retail sales of consumer goods went up four percent year on year in the first 11 months, totalling 45.61 trillion yuan. For November alone, retail sales went up 1.3 percent year on year. The surveyed urban unemployment rate in China stood at 5.1 percent for the month as fixed-asset investment went down 2.6 percent year on year in the first 11 months. Home prices in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities generally fell in November. A spokesman for the bureau said that household consumption capability and confidence needed to be further improved and that the country would step up counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments. (Xinhua/Reuters)