China's software industry's total output value grew 38 percent annually from 2000 to 2004, the Beijing-based Economic Information Daily reported Wednesday.

An official from the Ministry of Information was quoted as saying that the industry's output value climbed from 59.3 billion yuan (about 7.2 billion US dollars) in 2000 to 230 billion yuan (some 28 billion dollars) in 2004. The official said the increase is owed mainly to preferential state policies in investment, taxation and technological input.

The official, whose name was not disclosed by the paper, said at Tuesday's the Ninth China International Software Exposition in Beijing software that exports also reported an annual increase rate of 64 percent from 400 million yuan (48.4 million dollars) in 2000 to 2.8 billion yuan (339 million dollars) in 2004.

China's software accounted for 2.5 percent of the world market in 2003.

Source: Xinhua