China Industrial Production

China's industrial production grew by 6.1% year-on-year in April 2025, surpassing expectations of a 5.5% gain. However, the latest figure eased from the 7.7% growth recorded in March, which was the strongest expansion in industrial output since June 2021, when factories were ahead of looming hefty US tariffs. All major sectors rose more softly: manufacturing (6.6% vs 7.9% in March), electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply (2.1% vs 3.5%), and mining (5.7% vs 9.3%). Within manufacturing, 36 out of 41 major sectors showed expansion, notably computer and communication (10.8%), heat production (1.2%), ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing (5.8%), non-ferrous metal smelting (7.5%), coal mining and washing (6.3%), cars (9.2%), textiles (2.9%), chemical products (8.0%), and oil and natural gas (4.3%). Monthly, industrial output climbed by 0.22% in April. In the first four months of 2025, industrial production expanded by 6.4%. Last year, industrial output rose by 5.8%.