China's industrial output expanded 6 percent year on year in July, with the growth rate level with that in June, official data showed Tuesday.

In the first seven months of the year, industrial output increased 6.6 percent year on year, 0.1 percentage point lower than the January-June period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

On a month-on-month basis, industrial output in July increased 0.48 percent from June.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.9 million U.S. dollars).

A breakdown of the data showed the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water reported the fastest growth at 9 percent among three major sectors in July.

Manufacturing output rose 6.2 percent year on year, up 0.2 percentage point from June, according to the NBS data. Output of the mining sector climbed 1.3 percent, down 1.4 percentage points from June.