China's June industrial output up 5.3% y/y, retail sales return to growth

BEIJING: China’s industrial output rose 5.3% in June from a year earlier, quickening from 4.5% growth in May, while retail sales returned to growth, official data showed on Wednesday.

The factory output figure, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, beat expectations for a 4.7% rise in a Reuters poll of 42 analysts.

Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, grew 1.0% in June, improving from a 0.6% decrease in May, which was the first drop in more than three years.

Analysts had forecast a 0.1% dip. Fixed-asset investment shrank 5.7% in the first six months of 2026, compared with expectations for a 4.9% decline.

It fell 4.1% in the January-May period.