FX.co ★ China Industrial Output Growth Beats Estimates

China's industrial production experienced a 6.1% year-on-year increase in April 2025, outperforming the anticipated 5.5% rise. Although this figure shows a moderation from the 7.7% growth observed in March—marking the strongest industrial output expansion since June 2021 when factories were responding to the threat of significant US tariffs—all major sectors exhibited more moderate growth. The manufacturing sector expanded by 6.6% compared to 7.9% in March, while electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply grew by 2.1% in contrast to the previous 3.5%, and the mining sector saw a rise of 5.7% compared to 9.3%. Within the manufacturing industry, 36 out of 41 major sectors experienced growth, with notable performances in areas such as computer and communication technology (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%), automotive production (9.2%), textiles (2.9%), chemical products (8.0%), and oil and natural gas (4.3%). On a monthly basis, industrial output increased by 0.22% in April. Over the first four months of 2025, industrial production expanded by 6.4%, following last year's 5.8% increase in industrial output.