China's August industrial output growth picks up on high-tech, robots

China's value-added industrial output expanded by 5.2% year on year in August, accelerating by 0.7 percentage point from the previous month, official data showed Tuesday, with industrial robots among the standout products.

High-tech manufacturing output jumped by 16.7% year on year in August, while equipment manufacturing rose by 12.1%, outpacing overall industrial output growth by 11.5 and 6.9 percentage points, respectively, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

At the product level, output of industrial robots jumped 34.6% year on year in August, while lithium-ion batteries and 3D printing equipment saw increases of 57.2% and 29.9%, respectively.

The rapid growth comes as industrial robots are finding applications across a widening range of industries in China.

Data released in July by the China Machinery Industry Federation showed that domestically produced industrial robots are now used in 253 industry groups, covering more than half of all such groups nationwide.

In terms of broader sectors, value-added output in the mining sector fell 1.4% year on year, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 6.1%.

Value-added output in the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply sectors rose by 4.9%.

By ownership, value-added output of state-owned and state-holding enterprises grew by 3% year on year, while that of private enterprises rose by 3.7%.

In the first eight months of 2026, industrial output grew by 5.3% year on year, data showed.

NBS data also showed that the purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing sector stood at 49.8 in August, while the index measuring firms' expectations for production and business activity came in at 53.8, signaling continued confidence in the outlook.

From January to July, total profits of China's major industrial firms reached 4.58 trillion yuan (about $677.12 billion), up by 17.6% year on year.

Industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan.

Fu Linghui, an NBS spokesperson, told a press conference on Tuesday that industrial production remained stable in August despite volatility in global energy and raw material markets, supported by efforts to secure energy supplies and advance the green transition.

He added that emerging industries continued to gain momentum as technological and industrial innovation became more integrated, with new growth drivers contributing more than 60% of the increase in industrial output.