China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 3.5 percent year on year in the first seven months of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

 

In July alone, industrial output rose 3.8 percent year on year and expanded 0.38 percent over June, according to the NBS.

 

In a breakdown by ownership, the value-added output of state-controlled enterprises led the gains with a year-on-year growth of 5.4 percent in July, followed by share-holding enterprises.

 

Among the three major sectors, the production and supply of utilities showed the fastest growth of 9.5 percent year on year during the period, outpacing that of the mining and the manufacturing sector.

 

The high-tech manufacturing sector stood out with a year-on-year growth of 5.9 percent, 2.1 percentage points higher than the overall industrial output growth, according to the NBS.

 

In terms of products, the production of new-energy automobiles and solar cells surged by 112.7 percent and 33.9 percent year on year, respectively.

 

China will expand infrastructure investment to drive the growth of the investment in relevant manufacturing industries and fully implement tax and fee reduction policies to reduce the cost for enterprises in the next phase, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui said.

 

The industrial output measures the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.96 million U.S. dollars).