Value added by the industrial economy put forth respectable growth of 6.2% against expectations of a repeat of October’s steady 6.1%, with the increase led by higher outputs from the electricity and utilities sectors.
Across the three industry categories, mining reported a slightly larger contraction of 2.9%, from 2.2%, while manufacturing output growth held steady at 6.7%. The third category of power production and supply, however, generated a robust uptick to 9.9% in November, from October’s 7.9%.
Non-thermal power sources including hydro, nuclear, wind, and solar registered huge jumps in output from a year ago, with generation growth north of 30% in the latter three segments according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The low cost of these alternative energy sources allowed coal-fired generators to take a back seat in November, especially during a month when prices of the bitumen fuel continued to surge to a multi-year high. Growth in power output from coal dropped to 5.3% from 11.9% in October.