China's industrial value-added output up 14.3 pct

China's industrial value-added output grew 14.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday. The year-on-year industrial value-added output in June stood at 15.1 percent after hitting a seven-month low of 13.3 percent in May, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said at a press conference. "The year-on-year growth of industrial value-added output has stayed around 14 percent for the fourth straight quarter," Sheng said, noting that declines in some economic indicators were due to government macro-control measures and the ending of stimulus policies. On a monthly basis, the industrial value-added output expanded by 1.48 percent in June from May, compared with 1.03 percent over the May to April period, according to Sheng. In the first half of the year, the industrial value-added output of state-owned and state-holding companies grew 10.7 percent and that of collectively-owned and joint-stock enterprises expanded 9.6 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively. During the same period, the industrial value-added output for the heavy industry sector rose 14.7 percent from one year earlier, while that for the light industry sector climbed 13.1 percent. "The heavy industry's growth pace is still too fast, indicating that the country still faces the daunting tasks of saving energy and reducing emissions, " Sheng said. All 39 industries saw year-on-year growth in the first half, with the textile sector up 7.1 percent; chemical materials and products sector up 15.1 percent; and general equipment manufacturing sector up 20.2 percent. The industrial value-added output increased 12.4 percent in China's eastern regions during the period, by 17.8 percent in central areas and by 17.3 percent in western parts of the country. In the first half of the year, the output of crude oil and electricity increased 4.6 percent and 13.5 percent from a year earlier, respectively, while automobiles saw 5 percent year-on-year increase in output during the period. The sales growth rate of industrial products stood at 97.8 percent for the first half, up 0.1 percentage points from the same period last year. The delivery value of industrial exports rose 19.1 percent year-on-year to hit 4.73 trillion yuan (about 730.75 billion U.S. dollars). In the first five months of the year, profits of industrial enterprises of scale -- referring to enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 20 million yuan each -- surged 27.9 percent from a year earlier to hit 1.92 trillion yuan. Industrial value-added output measures the final results of industrial production, or in other words the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate inputs, such as raw materials and labor costs. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 9.6 percent year-on-year in the first half while the consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rose 5.4 percent during the period, according to Sheng. The country's economic performance was "generally good" and had developed according to macro-economic regulation in the first half, Sheng said.