China Industrial Output Growth Weakest in a Year

China's industrial production grew by 5.2% year-on-year in August 2025, easing from July’s 5.7% and falling short of expectations of 5.8%. This marked the softest increase in industrial production since August 2024, driven by slower growth in manufacturing activity (5.7% vs 6.2% in July) and electricity, heat, gas, and water production (2.4% vs 3.3%). Meanwhile, mining output continued to rise steadily, increasing by 5.1% compared to 5.0% in July. Within manufacturing, 31 of 41 major industries recorded growth, including automotive (8.4%), computers and communications (9.9%), railway and shipbuilding (12.0%), non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling (7.3%), chemical products (7.6%), coal mining and washing (5.1%), oil and gas (4.7%), food manufacturing (4.7%), and heat production (2.5%). For the first seven months of the year, industrial production grew by 6.2%. On a monthly basis, industrial output expanded by 0.37%, after rising 0.38% in the previous month.