Industrial output stood at 209.5 billion yuan (US$25.2 billion), up 11.4 percent from October 1999.

"The growth rate was 0.6 percent lower than September," the bureau said.

The total output for the first 10 months of the year was 1,915.6 billion yuan (US$230.8 billion), up 11.6 percent from the same period last year.

"The slowdown in October was mainly because of a drop in the growth of exports," said Hu Shaowei, an expert at the State Information Center.

The amount of industrial products exported rose 21.8 percent year-on-year to 124.2 billion yuan (US$15 billion) last month.

But that growth rate was 3.3 percent lower than the September figure, said the bureau.

The slowdown in exports was mainly because of the relatively high speed of exports in the same period last year when they were recovering quickly from a drop, the bureau said.

A decline in the growth rate of fixed assets investments should also be blamed for the slowdown, Hu said.

Heavy industry production, mainly driven by fixed assets investment, amounted to 126.8 billion yuan (US$15.3 billion) last month, an increase of 13.4 percent from a year ago. The growth rate was down 1 percent from September.

But light industry production, mainly fuelled by domestic consumption, rose slightly to 82.7 billion yuan (US$9.9 billion) in October because of the seven-day National Day holiday.

"Industrial output of state-owned and state-holding enterprises slowed down, while production by overseas-funded enterprises rose slightly," the National Bureau of Statistics said.

China's industrial value added was 209.3 billion yuan (US$25.2 billion) in September, 12 percent more than in the same period last year.

Production by light industry firms, mainly fuelled by exports and domestic consumption, rose 8.8 percent year-on-year to 82.2 billion yuan (US$9.9 billion) in September.

Production of heavy industry enterprises, mainly driven by fixed assets investment, amounted to 127.1 billion yuan (US$15.3 billion) in September, an increase of 14.4 percent from a year ago.

(China Daily 11/10/2000)