China produced nearly 226 million mobile phones in the first five months of the year, up 33.7 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics from the Ministry of Information Technology.

The rising rural market is believed to be a major driver behind the production boom, explained ministry officials.

As international giants such as Nokia and Motorola promote low-end phones targeting farmers, local producers are trying to catch up, according to the ministry.

China is expected to manufacture 40 percent of the one billion mobile phones produced around the world this year, said ministry officials.

However, the officials warned that the mobile phone industry is still in the throes of restructuring and producers without up-to-date technologies may be thrown out of the market.

China now has more than 80 mobile phone producers. Last year Chinese companies produced a total of 480 million mobile phones, a hefty rise of 58.2 percent from the previous year.

There are now about 487 million mobile phone users in China with six million new users being added every month, according to the Ministry of Information Industry.

(Xinhua News Agency July 16 2007)