BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- With the gradual recovery of market demand and the transformation of driving forces, production in China's industrial sector has seen steady growth in October.

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 4.6 percent year on year in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday.

Among the three major sectors, the mining sector and the manufacturing sector expanded by 2.9 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, in October, while the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas, and water rose by 1.5 percent.

The auto manufacturing sector reported an exceptional performance in October, with its output jumping 10.8 percent, Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the bureau, said at a press conference.

In a breakdown by ownership, the output of state-controlled companies, joint-equity firms, and private enterprises went up 4.9 percent, 5.6 percent, and 3.9 percent year on year, respectively, last month.

In terms of products, the output of solar cells surged by 62.8 percent, while service robots and integrated circuits rose by 59.1 percent and 34.5 percent, respectively.

From January to October, industrial output rose 4.1 percent year on year, according to the bureau.

China possesses a solid foundation for industrial recovery and growth as production in its industrial sector accelerated in October, and the transformation and upgrade of the sector have been moving forward, the spokesperson said.

She said that despite the industrial economy continuing to face pressure as the international environment remains complex, the links between industrial production and sales have continued to improve, and emerging strategic industries have accelerated their development as policies have taken effect.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.79 million U.S. dollars).

The profits of major industrial firms surged 11.9 percent year on year in September, indicating that market demand continues to recover, which is conducive to improving the enthusiasm of enterprises in production and to promoting the stable recovery of enterprise production, Liu said.

However, demand in the manufacturing sector still needs to be consolidated as the sector's new order index, a sub-index of the purchasing managers' index, was below 50 in October, the spokesperson said.