China's industrial output rose 8.1 percent in the first eight months from the same period last year, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Friday.

The growth rate was 7.6 percentage points lower than that in the same period last year, but 1.1 percentage points higher than that in the first half year.

In August alone, China's industrial output expanded 12.3 percent year on year. The growth rate was the largest since September last year when the global economic slowdown hit China.

China's exports in August dropped 23.4 percent year on year, indicating the country faced a tough exports situation, said a report on the MIIT website.

China finished 662.4 billion yuan (96.98 billion U.S. dollars) of industrial investment in August, up 23.1 percent year on year. Total industrial investment was 4.73 trillion yuan in the first eight months, up 26.6 percent year on year.