China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 9.6 percent year on year in 2021, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

The figure brought the average growth rate in the past two years to 6.1 percent, according to the NBS.

In December alone, the industrial output grew 4.3 percent from a year earlier, and 0.42 percent from November.

The value-added industrial output measures the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 3.14 million U.S. dollars).

In a breakdown by ownership, the output of state-holding enterprises climbed 8 percent in 2021, and that of joint-stock companies went up 9.8 percent.

The production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water recorded a year-on-year growth of 11.4 percent, the fastest among the three major industrial sectors.

The output of the manufacturing sector increased 9.8 percent, while the mining output rose 5.3 percent, according to the NBS.

The industrial structure continued to improve last year, with the output in high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing industries expanding by 18.2 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.