BEIJING -- China's retail sales of consumer goods went up 2.8 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2026, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

The pace was 1.9 percentage points faster than the growth recorded in December 2025.

The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 8.61 trillion yuan (about $1.25 trillion) from January to February, according to the NBS.

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2026, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

The pace was 1.1 percentage points faster than the level in December last year, according to the NBS. In February alone, the industrial output grew 0.83 percent from January.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $2.9 million).

A breakdown of the data showed that the mining sector's value-added output increased by 6.1 percent year-on-year in the two-month period, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 6.6 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, and water production and supply sectors rose by 4.7 percent.