This is the second month the country's industrial production

grew slowly this year. NBS figures show that the growth rate of

industrial production in April dropped by 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.

The NBS said the new industrial value generated in May reached 227.9 billion yuan; the total amount for the first five months of the year stood at 1,041.3 billion yuan, up 11.1 percent on an annual basis.

Exports of industrial products amounted to 122.8 billion yuan

in May, up 8.2 percent year on year; but the growth rate was 2.7

percentage points lower than in April and the first time in 16

months that the growth rate fell below the double-digit level, the NBS said.

Three of the four industrial sectors that are leading foreign

exchange earners saw slower growth in exports in May. The electronic and telecommunications equipment manufacturing sector

posing the steepest fall, from a 17.9-percent rise in April to 9.5 percent in May. The export growth rate of the textiles and garment sectors dropped by one and 3.7 percentage points respectively.

The electric machinery and equipment manufacturing sector remained basically the same as in the previous month.

In May, state-owned enterprises and foreign-invested enterprise scored reported production rise of 8.8 and 12 percent year on year, respectively, but the growth rate was 1.9 and 2.3 percentage points lower than in April, according to the NBS.

The heavy industry in May grew by 11.3 percent from a year

earlier, but the growth rate was 2.2 percentage points lower than in April. The light industry rose 8.7 percent year on year, but the growth rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than in April.

The NBS said the slowdown was mainly recorded in major industrial sectors such as coal, metallurgy, transport equipment manufacturing, textiles and tobacco.

Meanwhile, nearly half of the 31 provinces, autonomous regions

and municipalities in China registered a slowdown in industrial

production. Shanghai, the leading industrial base of the country, sustained the biggest drop of 6.6 percentage points in May on a monthly basis.

The NBS said industrial enterprises in the country sold 97.34

percent of their products in May, slightly higher than one year

ago. Total output-sales ratio for January-May stood at 96.73

percent, an increase of 0.07 percentage points year on year.

(Xinhua 06/11/2001)