China’s value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, expanded 6.8 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2017, according to official figures released on Wednesday.
The country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) also briefed that industrial manufacturing and the performance of enterprises were better than expected.
Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (2.9 million U.S. dollars).
Authorities say that the profits of industrial enterprises above the designated size increased by 31.5 percent year on year over the first two months of 2017. The high technology industry continues on a path of sound development while traditional industries are seeing brighter prospects.
Meanwhile, the consumption of information has further contributed to economic growth, as the added value of information transmission, software and information technology services reached 692.9 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 19.1 percent, said the MIIT.
