BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, expanded 5.6 percent year on year in the first three quarters, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

(File Photo: VCG)

In September, the industrial output rose 5.8 percent year on year, up 1.4 percentage points from the growth rate in August, according to the NBS.

Industrial output, officially called industrial value added, is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars).

In a breakdown by ownership, the output of state-controlled enterprises went up 4.7 percent year on year in the first three quarters, while that of joint-stock companies went up 6.9 percent and that of foreign-funded enterprises and enterprises with investment from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan increased by 1.4 percent.

The production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water reported a year-on-year increase of 7 percent in the first three quarters, the fastest among the three major sectors, which also include mining and manufacturing.

Manufacturing output rose 5.9 percent year on year, and output growth of the mining sector rose 4.6 percent.

High-tech manufacturing led the overall industrial output growth with its 8.7-percent year-on-year increase.