BEIJING — 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 on Oct 18.

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.

The higher growth rate in September was partly due to some enterprises' plans to speed up producing and marketing at the end of the third quarter and enterprises' stronger motivation from market expectations to expand production, said NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong.

Though the country's industrial sector is now faced with downward pressure, it would basically maintain stability with supporting factors, said Mao.

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).

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.

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

The data on Oct 18 also showed China's fixed-asset investment grew 5.4 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters, retreating 0.1 percentage points from the January-August period. Retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.2 percent year-on-year.

Mao said the Chinese economy has maintained overall stability, while acknowledging that China faces downward pressure amid slower global economic growth and more external uncertainties.

Since the beginning of this year, the country has taken a slew of measures including cutting taxes and fees, increasing the scale of local special bonds while accelerating the issuance, all of which have started to produce a desired effect, said Mao.