China’s retail sales beat expectations to up 2.9% in Oct as economy maintains sustained momentum of steady progress

Consumers shop at a supermarket in Huaian, East China's Jiangsu Province on October 19, 2025. Photo: VCG

China's economy maintained a generally stable momentum with steady progress in October, with the production and supply growing steadily, employment generally stable, price situation improved, and new growth drivers are being cultivated and expanded, official data showed on Friday.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the country's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.629 trillion yuan ($652.36 billion) in October, up by 2.9 percent year-on-year, or up by 0.16 percent month-on-month. The figure also beat market analysts' forecast of 2.7 percent year-on-year growth.

In the first 10 months, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 41.217 trillion yuan, up by 4.3 percent year-on-year. The online retail sales reached 12.79 trillion yuan, up by 9.6 percent year-on-year.

In addition, the country's total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 4.9 percent year-on-year in October, or up by 0.17 percent month-on-month, according to the NBS.

In the first 10 months, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 40.89 trillion yuan, down by 1.7 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

In October, the urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the previous month.

"Generally speaking, the national economy was generally stable in October, with solid progress in transformation and upgrading and continued growth of new growth drivers. However, we should be aware that there are many unstable and uncertain factors in external environment, domestic structural adjustments face significant pressure, and stable economic development is confronted with multiple challenges," NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said at a press conference on Friday on the release of the data.

Fu said the government agencies will adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and expand domestic demand on all fronts at the next stage.

"We must focus on keeping employment, businesses, market and expectations stable, promote the implementation and improve the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies, deepen reform and opening up comprehensively, intensify the innovation-driven development, and effectively pursue higher-quality economic growth and appropriately increase economic output," he said.