China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 6.5 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

In March alone, industrial output rose 5 percent year on year and 0.39 percent from the previous month, the NBS said.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 3.11 million U.S. dollars).