China's industrial output maintains steady growth in November

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial output sustained steady expansion in November amid measures for industrial equipment upgrades, official data showed Monday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, expanded 5.4 percent year on year in November.

Speaking at a press conference, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said that the industrial output had shown steady growth, driven by the large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs.

The NBS data showed that the equipment manufacturing sector's output climbed 7.6 percent from a year ago in November, 1 percentage point higher than the previous month, contributing nearly half of the overall industrial output growth.

The high-tech manufacturing industry also posted stellar performance, with its output up 7.8 percent year on year last month. The growth pace outstripped the overall industrial output by 2.4 percentage points.

In particular, the country's production of new energy vehicles, industrial robots, and integrated circuit products surged 51.1 percent, 29.3 percent, and 8.7 percent last month, respectively.

On a monthly basis, the industrial output edged up 0.46 percent in November from the previous month, data from the NBS showed. During the January-November period, it rose 5.8 percent year on year.

The industrial output measures the activity of enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars).

The purchasing managers' index for the manufacturing sector came in at 50.3 last month, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month and surpassing the boom-or-bust line of 50 for the second time since it returned to expansion in October after five consecutive months of contraction.

Boosted by a raft of policy measures, the Chinese economy has achieved generally stable growth while making progress, with positive factors further accumulating, said Fu.