China retail sales up 10.0% on-year in October: govt

[BEIJING] China's retail sales growth slowed to 10.0 per cent on-year in October, government data showed on Monday, missing expectations in a worrying sign for domestic demand in the world's second-largest economy.

October's industrial output growth matched the previous month's figure at 6.1 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, also slightly below forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

As growth slows, Beijing is seeking to make a difficult transition away from dependence on exports and heavy industry toward consumption as the key driver of the economy, but the process is proving bumpy.

"The national economy, under the continuing effect of a series of policies, has maintained the momentum of moderate but stable development with quality improved," the NBS said in a statement.

The policies of "cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak links" influenced the results, it added.

Total retail sales, a key measure of consumer spending, reached 3.1 trillion yuan (S$63.7 billion) last month, it said, noting that online retail sales took an increased share of the total.

Fixed-asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, rose 8.3 per cent in the first ten months of the year.

AFP