BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) – China’s industrial output, an important economic indicator, expanded 5.4 percent year on year in April, official data showed on Wednesday.
The rate slid by 3.1 percentage points from that in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Though the growth in industrial output was lower than expected in April, China’s industrial production was not as weak as the overall data showed and the output of many important products was even well above that in March.
However, the country saw a drastic slowdown in vehicle output last month.
In April, China’s vehicle output slumped 15.8 percent year on year to 2.02 million units, hitting a record low since July 2016.
Besides, the country continued to see steady growth in fixed-asset investment. During the January-April period, China’s fixed-asset investment increased 6.1 percent year on year to 15.6 trillion yuan, down 0.2 percentage points from the first quarter, the NBS showed.
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 3 million U.S. dollars).
(Edited by Yang Yifan, yangyifan@xinhua.org)
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