On May 20, the Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Statistics and the Yunnan Investigation Team of the National Bureau of Statistics released the province's economic performance data for the period from January to April 2026. During these four months, Yunnan focused on its strategic positioning and development goals, implementing measures to stabilize growth, employment, businesses, markets, and expectations. Efforts to advance economic transformation and upgrading progressed steadily, resulting in overall stable economic performance, optimized supply, gradually upgrading demand, a moderate recovery in consumer prices, and effective accumulation of endogenous development momentum.
The power industry demonstrated steady growth. From January to April, the value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size in the province decreased by 1.2% year-on-year. By sector, mining saw a decline of 6.6%, with the rate of decrease narrowing by 0.2 percentage points compared to the first three months. Manufacturing decreased by 1.9%, while the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water increased by 3.1%.
In key industries, the power sector grew by 2.7%, the non-ferrous metals industry by 3.1%, and the green aluminum industry by 10.5%, accelerating by 1.0 percentage points from the first three months. The agricultural and sideline food processing industry and the food manufacturing industry increased by 3.7% and 4.6%, respectively, accelerating by 3.2 and 2.0 percentage points. In terms of products, the output of ten non-ferrous metals rose by 11.0%, with electrolytic aluminum growing by 15.5%. Cement, sugar, cigarettes, and finished steel products increased by 5.1%, 9.0%, 0.7%, and 3.4%, respectively.
Energy supply and demand remained stable and orderly. From January to April, electricity generation by industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 127.271 billion kilowatt-hours, up 1.3% year-on-year. By energy source, thermal power generation fell by 15.0%, hydropower increased by 3.3%, wind power grew by 0.8%, and solar power surged by 19.6%. Clean energy accounted for 84.0% of total power generation, up 3.3 percentage points from the same period last year. Raw coal output by industrial enterprises above the designated size stood at 21.0154 million tons.
On the consumption side, comprehensive energy consumption (equivalent calorific value) by industrial enterprises above the designated size rose by 1.7%, electricity consumption increased by 6.6%, raw coal consumption decreased by 9.4%, and total electricity consumption in society grew by 7.5%.
The service sector expanded steadily with improved quality. From January to March, operating revenue of service enterprises above the designated size reached 92.143 billion yuan, up 3.1% year-on-year.
By industry, services related to production activities showed positive development. Operating revenue in software and information technology services grew by 31.7%, scientific research and technical services by 11.8%, loading, unloading, and warehousing by 13.4%, multimodal transport and transport agency by 31.2%, and leasing and business services by 0.6%. Services related to residents' lives continued to expand. Operating revenue in water conservancy, environment, and public facilities management increased by 9.5%, real estate (excluding development and operation) by 6.8%, culture, sports, and entertainment by 3.8%, and residential services, repair, and other services by 1.3%.
The structure of commodity consumption continued to upgrade. From January to April, total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 411.687 billion yuan, down 1.7% year-on-year. Online retail maintained a positive trend, with retail sales of goods via public networks by units above the designated size increasing by 22.8%, accelerating by 1.4 percentage points from the first three months.
Consumption promotion policies led to rapid growth in sales of upgraded goods. Retail sales of sports and entertainment goods, communication equipment, mechanical and electrical products and equipment, and wearable smart devices by units above the designated size rose by 28.5%, 14.8%, 15.0%, and 48.3%, respectively.
Investment structure continued to optimize. From January to April, fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) decreased by 6.9% year-on-year. By industry, investment in the primary industry fell by 4.8%, the secondary industry by 5.7%, and the tertiary industry by 7.9%. Private investment declined by 9.2%, accounting for 42.2% of total investment.
By sector, industrial investment decreased by 4.3%, making up 53.7% of total investment, up 1.5 percentage points from the same period last year. Within this, energy industry investment grew by 6.3%. Emphasizing the integration of investment in physical assets and human capital, government investment steadily shifted toward public welfare sectors. Investment in sports, education, and the production and supply of electricity and heat increased by 195.2%, 31.6%, and 12.9%, respectively. The expansion and quality improvement of the service sector saw investment in high-tech services grow by 9.4%.
Consumer prices showed stable recovery. From January to April, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.9% year-on-year. By category, prices for food, tobacco, liquor, and dining out decreased by 0.4%, clothing increased by 1.2%, housing fell by 0.1%, household goods and services rose by 2.0%, transportation and communication increased by 1.5%, education, culture, and entertainment grew by 3.3%, healthcare rose by 0.2%, and other goods and services surged by 10.4%. Within food, tobacco, liquor, and dining out, pork prices fell by 14.1%, grain prices decreased by 0.3%, fresh fruit prices increased by 0.4%, and fresh vegetable prices rose by 2.0%. Core CPI, excluding food and energy prices, increased by 1.3% year-on-year. In April alone, CPI rose by 1.4% year-on-year, with the growth rate expanding by 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, and increased by 0.4% month-on-month.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) for industrial products saw an expanded increase. From January to April, PPI rose by 5.5% year-on-year. In April alone, it increased by 8.8%, with the growth rate expanding by 2.5 percentage points from the previous month, and rose by 2.2% month-on-month. The Purchasing Price Index for industrial producers increased by 4.5% year-on-year from January to April. In April alone, it rose by 7.9%, with the growth rate expanding by 3.7 percentage points from the previous month, and increased by 3.4% month-on-month.
Overall, Yunnan's economy maintained stable performance from January to April, with continued structural adjustment and transformation, effective accumulation of development momentum, and resilience and vitality in certain sectors. However, new growth drivers are still developing and strengthening, and the imbalance between strong supply and weak demand persists. Moving forward, the province will fully leverage policies to expand industrial investment, promote consumption upgrading, unleash domestic demand potential, upgrade traditional industries, cultivate emerging industries, optimize production and supply, accelerate the shift between old and new growth drivers, smooth the supply-demand cycle, and foster stable and healthy economic development.
Comments