China's factory output growth slows, industrial upgrades proceed

Growth of China's factory output dropped a notch in July, but industrial upgrades continued as the country strove to move up the industrial value chain, data showed Monday.

Value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, grew 6.4 percent year on year in July, down from the 7.6-percent increase for June but up from the 6-percent rise for the same month of last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong attributed the slower growth, which he considered a reasonable and relatively sound pace of growth, to widespread heat waves, severe floods in southern provinces during the month and local governments' fresh efforts to cut industrial overcapacity.

On a monthly basis, China's industrial production edged up 0.41 percent in July from the previous month.

For the first seven months, industrial production expanded 6.8 percent, a notch down from the 6.9-percent growth registered in the first half of the year.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan (nearly 3 million U.S. dollars).

Mao said China's industrial sector has had generally stable performance, with evident progress in industrial upgrades, and the momentum would remain unchanged over the remaining months of the year.

Output of high-tech industries rose 12.1 percent year on year in July, while that of equipment manufacturing sector climbed 10.7 percent, both exceeding that of the overall output growth.

The manufacturing output increased 6.7 percent, while output from suppliers of power, heating, fuel gas and water gained 9.8 percent. The mining sector, however, slipped 1.3 percent.

Monday's data also showed fixed-asset investment growth slowed to 8.3 percent in the first seven months from 8.6 percent in the first half of the year, while the retail sales increase was down from 11 percent in June to 10.4 percent in July.