China’s industrial production grew 4.5% year-on-year in May 2026, accelerating from a 4.1% rise in April, which was the softest growth since July 2023, and surpassing market expectations of 4.3%. Activity accelerated in both manufacturing (4.4% vs 4.0% in April) and the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water (7.6% vs 5.3%), while growth in mining moderated to 2.3% from 3.8%. Within manufacturing, 28 of 41 major industries recorded growth, including computers and communications equipment (17.0%), railway and shipbuilding (7.4%), general equipment (6.7%), special equipment (9.1%), electrical machinery (4.7%), chemicals (0.3%), coal mining and washing (3.5%), agriculture and food processing (1.5%), oil and gas (1.5%), textiles (2.6%), and automotive (8.3%). Conversely, production of non-metallic mineral products fell (-5.6%). For the first five months of the year, industrial output expanded 5.4%. On a monthly basis, industrial output rose 0.4%.