The industrial output of China's major industrial enterprises,
which are companies with annual revenue of at least 5 million yuan
(US$675,000), grew 17.9 percent year-on-year in October, the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
The growth rate was one percentage point below the September
figure.
From January to October, industrial output grew 18.5 percent
year-on-year.
"We can't judge the trend of industrial growth based on this
slight decrease," said Zhang Yansheng, director of the
International Economic Research Institute, which is under the
National Development and Reform Commission.
Output of transportation equipment grew the fastest among
industrial sectors, at 24.8 percent in October. However, this was
3.6 percentage points below the year's high, which was set in
August, according to the NBS.
Industrial output rose more than 20 percent for non-ferrous
minerals products, general machinery, and electrical machinery and
equipment.
The NBS said the sale-to-production ratio in October was 98.3
percent, up 0.04 percentage points from a year earlier.
Export shipments totaled 657 billion yuan in October, up 18.5
percent year-on-year
"The government is trying to reduce the ballooning trade
surplus, which may cause a decline in exports," said Zhang.
In an effort to prevent the economy from overheating, China has
taken a series of tightening measures this year, including five
interest rate hikes and raising commercial banks' reserve ratio on
nine occasions.
A World Bank (WB) report released on Thursday said its forecast
for China's 2007 growth rate remained unchanged at 11.3 percent
despite growing concerns about the US sub-prime crisis and rising
oil prices.
The bank also maintained its forecast for Chinese growth in 2008
at a slightly lower 10.8 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2007)
