China’s industrial output in May grew at an eight-month high of 8.9% year on year while its retail sales posted a healthy growth of 15.2%, enhancing the view that the country’s economic recovery is well under way. Heavy industrial output increased at an annual rate of 8.6% last month and made the biggest contribution on overall manufacturing production, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. For the January-to-May period, manufacturing output was up 6.3% year on year, based on official statistics. “There is no doubt that China’s economic is expanding gradually though the figure fluctuates sometimes on month-on-month basis,” said Guo Shitao, an economist from Liaoning-based brokerage Datong Securities. Guo was upbeat that the growth momentum last month could be sustained from June onwards. The textile industry produced 8.3% more in May this compared to the same period a year earlier, while production of chemical raw material and chemical products jumped 11.1% year on year, the data showed. China's output of coal, a major energy commodity, also grew 9.6% year on year to 250m tonnes in May. Crude oil production, meanwhile, slipped 1.1% year on year to 16.03m tonnes. Production volumes of automobile rose an impressive 29.0% year on year to 1.15m, with car volumes up 35.0% to 608,000, based on the NBS data. Meanwhile, China’s retail sales grew strongly to yuan (CNY)1,004bn ($146bn) in May based on NBS’ data. “Consumption is not easy to be pushed up so the 15% increase is very good/satisfied. The figure also proves a series of measures unveiled by the government are effective,” said Guo. “China has to try its best to stimulate domestic consumption in the wake of slipping exports. The exports are difficult to get rid of decline ahead of the end of the year,” the analyst said.