China's industrial production rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year in December, faster than a 5.4 percent gain in November and beating market consensus of 5.3 percent. Output advanced further for mining (3.6 percent vs 2.3 percent in November), while slowed for both manufacturing (5.5 percent vs 5.6 percent) and utilities (9.6 percent vs 9.8 percent). By industry, production rose at a faster pace for non-metal minerals (8.8 percent vs 6.9 percent); transport equipment (13.8 percent vs 12.7 percent); and electrical machinery (10.1 percent vs 9 percent). On the other hand, output growth eased for chemicals (1.8 percent vs 1.9 percent); general equipment (6.5 percent vs 6.7 percent); computer, communications (10.5 percent vs 12.3 percent); textiles (0.2 percent vs 1.5 percent); ferrous metals (9.2 percent vs 10.4 percent); and power equipment (8.3 percent vs 9 percent). Considering full year of 2018, industrial output rose 6.2 percent. Industrial Production in China averaged 12.08 percent from 1990 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 29.40 percent in August of 1994 and a record low of -21.10 percent in January of 1990.
Industrial Production in China is expected to be 6.20 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Industrial Production in China to stand at 5.40 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the China Industrial Production is projected to trend around 5.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.