According to data released on Monday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), production and supply remained generally stable in November, employment conditions were broadly steady, market vitality continued to improve, and new high-quality productive forces developed in a stable manner. Overall, economic activity maintained a trend of stability accompanied by steady progress.

Industrial production recorded steady growth, while the services sector continued to expand. In November, the total industrial output of large-scale enterprises increased by 4.8 percent year on year and by 0.44 percent compared with the previous month. From January to November, industrial output rose by 6.0 percent year on year. During the same month, the services sector production index grew by 4.2 percent year on year.

Growth in service-sector retail sales accelerated, investment in manufacturing continued to rise, and the growth rate of goods imports and exports picked up. From January to November, total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.0 percent year on year, while service-sector sales grew by 5.4 percent—0.1 percentage point higher than in the January–October period. Fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) stood at 44.4035 trillion yuan, down 2.6 percent year on year; excluding real estate development, fixed-asset investment rose by 0.8 percent. Notably, investment in manufacturing increased by 1.9 percent. In November, total goods imports and exports grew by 4.1 percent year on year, up 4.0 percentage points from the previous month.

The labor market remained generally stable, while consumer prices rose at a faster pace year on year. In November, the surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent, unchanged from the previous month. The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.7 percent year on year, 0.5 percentage point higher than in the previous month, though it declined by 0.1 percent month on month. Excluding food and energy prices, core CPI increased by 1.2 percent year on year.

Speaking at a press conference held on the 15th by the State Council Information Office, Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said that overall, the national economy in November maintained a stable trajectory and continued its trend of steady and progressive development. However, he noted that uncertainties and instabilities in the external environment remain pronounced, domestic effective demand is still insufficient, and economic operations continue to face multiple challenges.

Fu added that going forward, China should adopt more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, continuously expand domestic demand and optimize supply, foster new growth drivers while making better use of existing resources, and place greater emphasis on stabilizing employment, businesses, markets, and expectations. These efforts, he said, are essential to achieving effective improvements in economic quality alongside reasonable growth in scale.

Information and photo: CMG