Industrial output growth accelerates in June

BEIJING -- China's industrial value-added output expanded 9.5 percent year-on-year in June, a pace faster than a month ago when it eased to a three-year low of 9.3 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

But on a month-on-month basis, the industrial output growth in June picked up 0.76 percent from May, according to the NBS.

In the first half of this year, the industrial value-added output increased 10.5 percent year-on-year.

"The pace of industrial production is still within the appropriate growth ranges," Sheng Laiyun, an NBS spokesman, told a press conference releasing a series of economic data, including the gross domestic product.

The industrial value-added output measures the final output value of industrial production, or the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate input, such as raw materials and labor costs.

China's GDP growth slowed to 7.6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the lowest quarterly expansion in three years, according to the NBS.

A slowing economy undermined industrial profits in the world's second-largest economy, with national industrial profits falling 2.4 percent year-on-year to 1.84 trillion yuan ($290.92 billion) in the first five months, Sheng said.

In breakdown, industrial value-added output for the heavy industry sector rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier in June, while that of the light industry sector added only 9 percent.

Analyzed by ownership, the State-owned industrial enterprises registered an annualized growth rate of 6.5 percent in June, while those overseas-funded companies posted a growth of 5.5 percent in the month.

In the month, the central and western regions of China outpaced the coastal eastern regions in industrial output development, with a growth rate of 11.1 percent, 11.7 percent, and 8.3 percent, respectively.