*Retail sales, services, and im-exports were the bright spots;
*Manufacturing PMI returned to expansion after 6 months of contraction;
*Investment, industrial output still grew steadily.
Guangzhou (JLC), November 15, 2024 – China’s economy showed stable growth in October, with major indicators recovering notably and positive factors accumulating, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.
Indicators such as consumption, services, and im-exports of goods improved considerably, the NBS said, partly thanks to the stimulus policies.
Retail sales
Retail sales of goods, a key measurement of consumer spending, gained 4.8% year on year to CNY4.54 trillion in October, accelerating from a 3.2% increase in September, the NBS data showed.
Driven by the trade-in policies, retail sales of household appliances, furniture, and automobiles all grew faster year on year, the NBS said.
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In January-October, China’s retail sales of consumer goods gained 3.5% year on year to CNY39.90 trillion, 2 percentage points faster than the growth in January-September.
Services
The service sector continued to improve, with the service production index rising 6.3% year on year in October, faster than a 5.1% increase in September, the NBS data showed.
Financial services, IT, and leasing all grew faster than the average level of the entire service sector in October.
In January-October, the service production index rose 5.0% year on year, 0.1 percentage points faster than the growth in January-September.
Imports and exports of goods
The total value of imports and exports of goods stood at about 3.70 trillion yuan in October, an increase of 4.6% year on year, faster than a 0.7% growth recorded in September, the NBS data showed.
Among them, exports were about 2.19 trillion yuan, up 11.2% year on year, while imports were about 1.51 trillion yuan, dropping 3.7% year on year.
In January-October, the total value of imports and exports of goods stood at about 36.02 trillion yuan, up 5.2% year on year.
Among them, exports were about 20.80 trillion yuan, up 6.7% year on year, while imports were about 15.22 trillion yuan, up 3.2% year on year.
Other key indicators
China's value-added industrial output - a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors - grew 5.3% year on year in October, the NBS data showed. In January-October, the industrial output grew 5.8% year on year.
China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 50.1% in October, returning to the expansion territory after 5 months of contraction.
Meanwhile, China’s non-manufacturing commercial index, which includes services and construction, came in at 50.2% in October, up from 50.0 % in September, indicating that the sector expanded at a faster pace, the NBS data indicated.
Fixed-asset investment - a gauge of expenditures on sectors including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment – increased 3.4% year on year to CNY42.32 trillion in January-October.
The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.0% in October, down 0.1 percentage points from September, according to the NBS. In January-October, the urban unemployment rate averaged 5.1%, compared to 5.3% in the same period last year.
