China's industrial output continues to recover

BEIJING -- China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, continued to recover as factories stepped up production amid effective COVID-19 control, official data showed Thursday.

Industrial output went up 4.4 percent year on year in the second quarter. In June alone, industrial output went up 4.8 percent year on year, faster than the 4.4-percent expansion seen in May and marking the third consecutive month of growth, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the first half of the year, industrial output fell 1.3 percent, dragged down by the 8.4-percent slump in the first quarter as the novel coronavirus outbreak disputed economic activities during the period.

Last month, output by the industries in the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water reported the quickest recovery by expanding 5.5 percent year on year.

Output in the manufacturing sector went up 5.1 percent, with that of high-tech manufacturing rising 10 percent, while the mining sector saw output up by 1.7 percent.

Overall, the Chinese economy has gradually overcome the impacts of the virus outbreak, and activities have shown stable recovery, the NBS said in a statement.

But with the global spread of the virus, domestic recovery still faces pressures, it added.

In a breakdown by ownership, output by the private sector went up 4.8 percent year on year in June.

The output of state-controlled enterprises rose 4.9 percent, that of joint-stock companies rose 5 percent and that of overseas-funded enterprises gained 4.2 percent.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $2.86 million).