China's industrial value-added output is expected to expand at least 13.5 percent year on year in 2010, Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said Saturday.

China's industrial sector has returned to stable growth after overcoming the global financial crisis, he said.

China's industrial value-added output expanded 11 percent in 2009. The growth rate was 13.3 percent from a year earlier in September and 16.3 percent for the first nine months, government data showed in October.

Industrial value-added output measures industrial production. It is the value of gross industrial output minus the value of intermediate inputs like raw materials and labor.

Li forecast Chinese energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output to fall 4 percent in the first nine months due to government efforts to save energy and reduce emissions. Chinese energy consumption per unit of industrial value-added output dropped 1.25 percent in the first half.