China's industrial output up 4.8% in July

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, expanded 4.8 percent year on year in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday.

The growth rate was 1.5 percentage points lower than that recorded in June, according to the NBS.

On a monthly basis, the industrial output edged up 0.19 percent from June.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value-added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about US$2.8 million).

In the first seven months, industrial output climbed 5.8 percent from one year earlier, with the pace of growth decelerating from 6 percent registered during the first half of the year, the NBS data showed.

Despite the slower growth, NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua said industrial production remained generally stable and industrial upgrading continued apace.

Thirty-six of the 41 sectors monitored by the NBS recorded increasing output in July, with high-tech manufacturing and service industries maintaining fast expansion.

A breakdown of the data showed the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water reported year-on-year growth of 6.9 percent in July, the fastest among three major sectors and accelerating 0.3 percentage points from June.

Manufacturing output rose 4.5 percent year on year, down from 6.2 percent in June, and output growth of the mining sector eased to 6.6 percent from 7.3 percent in June.

The output of high-tech manufacturing expanded 8.7 percent year on year in the first seven months.

Other data released Wednesday also showed the country's retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.3 percent in the first seven months of the year, slightly down from 8.4 percent in the January-June period. Fixed-asset investment grew 5.7 percent year on year for January-July, also a notch down from H1.

 Liu said the economic performance maintained stable development momentum and remained within a reasonable range, but she also warned about a complex external environment and growing downward pressure.

She said the government had unveiled a series of counter-cyclical measures, the effects of which were filtering through and would support economic growth in the near future.