China's industrial output rose 3.9 percent in April from a year earlier, data showed Friday, expanding for the first time this year as the world's second-largest economy slowly emerged from its coronavirus lockdown.
That was faster than the 1.5 percent increase forecast in a Reuters poll on analysts, and followed a 1.1 percent fall in March.
After months of lockdowns, China is slowly reopening its economy as the spread of the new virus on the mainland has come under control.