Exports also fell at the slowest pace in a year, official data showed, as overseas demand for Chinese-made goods continued to improve.

Analysts said the strong data showed China's recovery was gathering pace, stoking debate about when the government should start exiting stimulus put in place a year ago when the worst economic crisis in decades took hold globally.

The nation's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 0.6 percent year on year in November, the first increase since January, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

"The mild rise in prices during economic recovery is actually conducive to economic growth and job creation," Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), told a news conference.

"Currently there is still no inflationary pressure."

The increase was due in part to Beijing's efforts to raise state-controlled prices for fuel, electricity and water to better reflect market forces.

Prices also likely rose last month because early snowstorms in northern and central China destroyed crops and disrupted transport, driving up the cost of food.

Industrial output, which shows activity in the millions of factories and workshops around the country, expanded 19.2 percent in November from a year ago, up from 16.1 percent in October.

"These data points should put increasing pressure on Beijing to start tightening policy in the months ahead," said Brian Jackson, a Hong Kong-based senior strategist at Royal Bank of Canada.

Ren Xianfang, a Beijing-based economist at IHS Global Insight, added: "We expect a gradual build up in inflation ... but it will be mild in the short term because of overcapacity" in the manufacturing sector.

China last year unveiled a four-trillion-yuan (586-billion-dollar) stimulus package along with big tax breaks to boost consumer spending as the global crisis hit its key export markets in the United States and Europe.

The pro-growth policies have been effective -- the economy expanded 8.9 percent in the third quarter after dipping to 6.1 percent in the first three months of the year, the slowest pace in more than a decade.

Beijing said this week it would maintain its pro-growth monetary policy for 2010 while also pushing on with efforts to stimulate domestic demand and boost exports.

Shipments fell 1.2 percent in November, the slowest decline since November 2008 when they dropped 2.2 percent. Imports rose for the first time in 13 months.

Jing Ulrich, an economist at JPMorgan, said the data "indicates continued economic recovery" in China.

Jackson said the improvement in exports would increase pressure on Beijing to let the value of the yuan appreciate.

"Beijing is now likely to see increasing global pressure to allow some yuan appreciation but should also find it easier to justify such a move to its domestic audience," Jackson said.

Beijing has effectively pegged the yuan to the US dollar since mid-2008 in an effort to boost exports, a key driver of economic growth.

China has repeatedly dismissed calls for a more flexible currency policy, with Premier Wen Jiabao saying late last month that a stable yuan would be beneficial to China and the global economy's recovery from the crisis.

The NBS said retail sales, the main measure of consumer spending, rose by 15.8 percent in November compared with the same month a year earlier, down slightly from the 16.2 percent increase posted the previous month.

The government sees consumer spending as a key factor in boosting the economy.

Fixed-asset investment in urban areas rose 32.1 percent in the January to November period, after growing 33.1 percent in the first 10 months of the year.

New lending rose to 294.8 billion yuan in November, up from 253.0 billion yuan in October, but down from the 516.7 billion yuan lent in September.

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