China's industrial output maintains stable growth as innovation shift quickens

BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial output continued to see stable growth in May with faster transformation and growing new quality productive forces.

The value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 5.6 percent year on year in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

The official data said the equipment and high-tech manufacturing sectors in particular posted strong growth last month, with their output up 7.5 percent and 10 percent from a year ago, respectively.

On a monthly basis, the entire industrial output edged up 0.3 percent in May from the previous month. During the January-May period, it rose 6.2 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 2.81 million U.S. dollars).

Commenting on the data, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua told a press conference Monday that "90 percent of regions, 80 percent of industries and nearly 60 percent of products registered increases [in output] from a year ago."

As the major growth driver, the equipment manufacturing sector contributed 2.6 percentage points of the entire industrial output growth, Liu noted, adding that services also picked up pace with the production index reporting a faster 4.8-percent increase.

Liu said the innovation-driven manufacturing sector accelerated the intelligent and green drive.

The output of 3D printing equipment, new energy vehicles, and integrated circuit products last month increased 36.3 percent, 33.6 percent, and 17.3 percent year on year, respectively. The intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle industry surged 75 percent in output, and the production of intelligent devices for cars climbed 19.7 percent.

The new quality productive forces continued to grow, Liu said.

Looking forward, Liu said China's industrial sector will gain more momentum in the rest of the year as expectations from businesses remain positive and their performance continues to improve, with effective policy support from the government.

In the first four months, the combined profits of major industrial enterprises rose 4.3 percent year on year to 2.09 trillion yuan, data showed.