China's industrial output up 4 pct in January-April

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 4 percent year on year in the first four months of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

The figure was 2.5 percentage points lower than that in the January-March period, the NBS said.

In April alone, industrial output declined 2.9 percent year on year from the previous month, according to the NBS.

During the January-April period, mining output recorded year-on-year growth of 10.4 percent, the fastest among the three major industrial sectors.

The output of the manufacturing sector increased by 3.2 percent, while the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water rose by 5 percent, according to the NBS.

The high-tech manufacturing sector posted stellar performance in the period, with the value-added output surging 11.5 percent year on year.

In terms of production, the output of new energy vehicles logged a marked increase of 112.7 percent, while that of solar batteries and mobile communication base stations jumped 27.5 percent and 25.9 percent year on year, respectively.

Pressures such as insufficient market demand, impeded industrial and supply chains, as well as higher production costs are weighing on the industrial sector at present, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said, reiterating that the country's complete industrial system and strong supporting capacity have remained unchanged.

With efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, enhance transportation and logistics and support enterprises to tide over difficulties, industrial production will be on the mend, Fu added.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.95 million U.S. dollars).