BEIJING - China's industrial sector reported steady expansion last month as innovation-driven industries continued to offer strong growth momentum.

China's value-added industrial output expanded 5.8 percent year on-year in May, official data showed on Monday.

The manufacturing sector saw its value-added output climb 6.2 percent year-on-year last month, with that of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing up by 9 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the first five months of this year, the country's industrial output gained 6.3 percent compared to a year ago, the data showed.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $2.79 million).

With effective policy support and ongoing upgrades, the industrial sector maintained relatively rapid expansion last month, demonstrating strong resilience and potential, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference on Monday.

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Fu highlighted robust expansion in high-end manufacturing, digital economy, and the new energy sector, all of which have propelled steady industrial transformation and economic growth.

Monday's data showed the production of 3D printing equipment, industrial robots and new energy vehicles surged 40 percent, 35.5 percent and 31.7 percent year-on-year in May, respectively. In the first four months of this year, the country's industrial profits amounted to nearly 2.12 trillion yuan, up by 1.4 percent from the same period in 2024.

Looking forward, Fu said external uncertainties and domestic challenges still exist and called for more efforts to support innovation-driven growth and make solid progress in high-quality development.

Retail sales

On the country’s consumption strength, official data showed that China's retail sales of consumer goods expanded 6.4 percent year-on-year in May.

Total retail sales of consumer goods topped 4.13 trillion yuan (about $575.3 billion) last month.

From January to May, the retail sales of consumer goods rose 5 percent year-on-year, accelerating from the 4.7-percent growth in the first four months, according to the NBS.

Fixed-asset investment

Official data also showed that China's fixed-asset investment went up 3.7 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2025.

Excluding the property sector, the country's fixed-asset investment grew 7.7 percent year-on-year during this period, according to the NBS.

Infrastructure investment rose 5.6 percent year-on-year, while manufacturing investment increased 8.5 percent.

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By industry, investment in the primary industry increased 8.4 percent year-on-year, while secondary industry investment rose 11.4 percent. The tertiary industry saw a 0.4 percent decrease in investment.

In the high-tech sector, investment in information services surged 41.4 percent, while investment in aviation, spacecraft, and equipment manufacturing increased 24.2 percent. Investment in computer and office equipment manufacturing grew 21.7 percent, and professional technical services investment rose 11.9 percent.

Home prices

Meanwhile, China's home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities continued the downward trend in May, though the pace of decline slowed, the NBS said.

"In May, home prices in 70 major cities continued to fall on a yearly basis, but the pace of decline further eased," said NBS statistician Wang Zhonghua.

New home prices in first-tier cities decreased by 1.7 percent year-on-year, narrowing by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous month, according to the NBS data. Among these cities, Shanghai saw an increase of 5.9 percent, while Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen experienced declines of 4.3 percent, 5.8 percent, and 2.6 percent, respectively.

In second- and third-tier cities, new home prices fell by 3.5 percent and 4.9 percent year-on-year, with drops narrowing by 0.4 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively.

In May, prices of second-hand homes in first-tier cities declined by 2.7 percent year-on-year, a reduction of 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, according to the NBS. Specifically, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw declines of 0.7 percent, 0.1 percent, 6.6 percent, and 3.2 percent, respectively.

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Second- and third-tier cities also reported year-on-year decreases in prices of second-hand homes of 6.1 percent and 6.9 percent, with reductions narrowing by 0.4 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively.

NBS data also showed that home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities dipped in May on a month-on-month basis.

Urban unemployment

The NBS added that the surveyed urban unemployment rate on average in China stood at 5 percent in May, down 0.1 percentage points from April.