The industrial production of China was growing at a slower pace in May, the third consecutive month to witness a cooling down of the country's heated industrial growth.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Thursday that the industrial output grew 17.5 percent year on year to 431 billion yuan (52.5 billion US dollars) in May. It was 1.6

percentage points lower than in April, continuing the downward trend in monthly growth since March.

The NBS said in a monthly report that slower growth in the output of energy, raw materials and consumer goods categories was the main reason behind the continuous cooling down of industrial expansion.

The NBS figures show that the growth rate of coal output in May was 3.3 percentage points slower than in the previous month, while the growth of steel lost 9.4 percentage points and cars shed 12.1 percentage points.

However, some of the overheating sectors still galloped ahead at a breathtaking speed. According to NBS, production of cement and alumina surged 17.1 percent and 17.7 percent respectively in May, 0.3 and 2.9 percentage points higher than the growth in April.

The NBS report say electronics, transport equipment manufacturing and metal melting are the main factors driving the rapid expansion of industrial output.

From January to May, the total value added of the Chinese industrial enterprises grew 18.1 percent year-on-year to 2,003.7 billion yuan in May. Some 97.6 percent of the products were sold in May, improving 0.4 percentage points over one year ago.