China reported year-on-year industrial growth of 14.8 percent in the first month of this year with 266.2 billion yuan (US$32.4 billion) in added value.

In its monthly report released Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics said the industrial sector maintained the momentum of the last quarter of 2002.

The added value by State-owned industrial enterprises totaled 146.5 billion yuan (US$17.8 billion), up 14.5 percent over the same period last year, according to the report.

The added value by collectively-owned manufacturing firms stood at 17.4 billion yuan (US$2.1 billion), an increase of 11.3percent.

The share-holding manufacturing firms, meanwhile, reported a 16.6 percent increase in output to 107.7 billion yuan (US$13.1 billion).

The added value by foreign-funded manufacturing firms and those funded by investors from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao went up by 17.2 percent to 70.9 billion yuan (US$8.6 billion).

Production of automotive vehicles and some electronic and telecommunication products grew fast during January, according to the report.

China produced 325,000 units of automotive vehicles, up 55.5 percent year on year, close to the highest monthly output recorded last year.

A total of 127,000 sedans were manufactured last month, a record monthly figure, and 120 percent up from the same period last year.

Manufactured goods worth a total of 157.6 billion yuan (US$19.2 billion) were delivered for export, up 25.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2003)