Strong exports boosted China's industrial output in the first two months, which led to a rise of 18.5% from the same period a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said March 15. The increase marked a spike from the gain of 12.5% in all of 2006 and was also higher than the 16.2% growth posted in the first two months of last year.
Continued strong global demand for Chinese goods was behind the rise, with exports by industrial companies rising 23.6% from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.
A growing domestic consumer market also helped underpin industrial output, with production of sedans reaching 750,000 units in the first two months, a rise of 29% from a year earlier, it said.
China's government has struggled to curb the construction industry but a 23.8% rise in the production of cement suggested the sector remained vibrant.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
