Customers shop at a supermarket in Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province, on May 21, 2026. Photo: VCG

The Chinese economy maintained solid momentum in the first five months of 2026, with consumption, industrial output and investment seeing steady growth, particularly in services and high-tech sectors, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Tuesday.  

During the January-May period, retail sales reached 20.6 trillion yuan ($2.87 trillion), up 1.4 percent year-on-year. Retail sales of goods excluding vehicles totaled 19 trillion yuan, rising by 2.7 percent from a year earlier. In May alone, retail sales stood at 4.11 trillion yuan, down by 0.6 percent year-on-year. Excluding vehicle sales, the month's retail sales rose by 1.1 percent to reach 3.78 trillion yuan, according to the NBS.

By consumption category, retail sales of goods reached 18.25 trillion yuan in the first five months, up 1.2 percent year-on-year, while catering revenue went up 3.1 percent to 2.35 trillion yuan, indicating continued resilience in services-related consumption, the NBS data showed. 

In addition, the services sector maintained steady growth, with modern services continuing to perform strongly. The services production index rose 4.8 percent year-on-year in the January-May period. In May alone, the index increased 4.4 percent. Among major sectors, information transmission, software and information technology services expanded 11.3 percent year-on-year, while the financial sector grew 7 percent.

Fu Linghui, a spokesperson for the NBS, said that when both goods and services consumption are taken into account, China's overall consumer market remained stable and the trend toward consumption upgrading has not changed.

The newly released broader indicator of total retail sales of consumer goods and services showed a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percent in the January-May period, according to the NBS. 

Hu Qimu, a professor at the Maritime Silk Road Institute of Huaqiao University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that services consumption has become an increasingly important component of overall spending.

Hu noted that focusing solely on goods consumption no longer fully captures the reality of China's consumer market.

Industrial production remained a key driver of economic growth. In May, the value-added industrial output of enterprises above designated size rose 4.5 percent year-on-year, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points from April, according to the NBS. 

Sales of industrial enterprises remained stable. In May, the sales ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 96 percent, down by 0.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Meanwhile, the value of exported goods reached 1.39 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent, underscoring the resilience of China's manufacturing sector despite a complex global trade environment.

At the press conference, Wang Guanhua, an NBS official, said that emerging industries maintained robust growth in the first five months of the year, and the accelerated transition from traditional growth drivers to new ones has become a hallmark of China's economic development.

Wang noted that high-tech manufacturing contributed nearly 40 percent of industrial output growth in the first five months, while equipment manufacturing accounted for nearly 60 percent, underscoring their role as key growth drivers. 

In the investment sector, spending in electronic circuit manufacturing surged 50.9 percent year-on-year, followed by lithium battery manufacturing at 24.9 percent and aircraft manufacturing at 19.7 percent, according to the NBS. 

On the consumption side, retail sales of smart wearable devices, including smart glasses, more than doubled during the January-May period, said Wang.

Li Changan, an economist at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday that China is undergoing a period of consumption upgrading, with new formats and scenarios emerging rapidly. In the second half of the year, high-tech industries are expected to remain a major engine of economic growth, particularly as technologies such as artificial intelligence create new consumer applications and demand, he noted.

Fu said that China's economy is supported by solid fundamentals, multiple advantages, strong resilience and significant growth potential, providing favorable conditions for maintaining a stable and improving economic performance.