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# Parsing China's atypical robot output data for September
- URL: https://asia-tech-news.ghost.io/parsing-chinas-atypical-robot-output-data-for-september/
- Published: 2026-10-19T22:23:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-26T00:18:03.000Z
- Description: YoY growth rates dropped sharply even while output held steady. There's a reason for that.
- Author: Cbot Crew
- Tags: Industrial robots, Machine tools, Robotics & embodied AI, National Bureau of Statistics of China, #ceb

China's larger industrial firms made 96,752 industrial robots in September, about as many as in August, according to [monthly output figures](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202610/t20261019%5F1965617.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) from China's [National Bureau of Statistics](https://www.stats.gov.cn/english/?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) (NBS, 国家统计局). However, growth from a year earlier slowed sharply, to 18.9% after strong YoY expansion over the summer, including 34.6% growth in August. 

The September 2026 numbers may not be as bad as they seem at first glance. The slowdown mainly reflects a jump in output. By our calculation from the figures NBS published at the time, September 2025 output was about a fifth higher than August 2025's. NBS calculates its growth rates against last year's output from a group of firms matched as closely as possible to this year's, so its rates differ from a straight comparison with last year's published figures. 

Over the longer run, growth held up. Industrial-robot output rose 29.1% in the first nine months of 2026, to 794,781\. NBS highlighted that figure, alongside 3D printing equipment and lithium-ion batteries, in its [review of the economy's first three quarters](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202610/t20261019%5F1965618.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io).

Service robots, which NBS counts separately, followed a similar pattern: output held at August's level, about 1.66 million, but NBS's growth rate turned negative, at −17.8%, its first drop this year. Last year's published figures show service-robot output also jumped in September 2025\. Machine tools, a separate category, kept growing: output of metal-cutting machine tools rose 12.5% in September from a year earlier, to about 80,000.

The figures cover only industrial firms with annual revenue from their main business of RMB 20 million (about US$2.8 million) or more. By our calculation, NBS's nine-month total for industrial robots is about 31,000, or nearly 4%, lower than its January–August total plus September's figure, and the release doesn't say why.

*Sources: 国家统计局 National Bureau of Statistics of China* [*\[1\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202610/t20261019%5F1965617.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[2\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202610/t20261019%5F1965618.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[3\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202609/t20260915%5F1965308.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[4\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202608/t20260817%5F1965055.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[5\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202607/t20260715%5F1964123.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[6\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202606/t20260616%5F1963953.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[7\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202605/t20260518%5F1963731.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[8\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202604/t20260416%5F1963329.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[9\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202603/t20260316%5F1962782.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[10\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202510/t20251020%5F1961611.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[11\]*](https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202509/t20250915%5F1961180.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)

*Editor: Ian Lamont*