Secondary industry remains key engine for China's economic growth

The secondary industry remained a key driving force for China's economic development over the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), with output growing 2.4 percentage points faster than gross domestic product (GDP), official figures show.

A recent National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) report said industrial output grew an average 11.2 percent annually.

Steel output was estimated to have reached 350 million tons in 2005, rocketing 170 percent from five years ago and making up one-third of the world's total.

The report said amid an optimized structure of cement industry, ten key enterprises supported by the government accounted for 12.2 percent of the country's cement output in 2005.

China produced 1.1 billion tons of cement to fuel its booming economic growth in 2005.

The structure of industrial products has been improved, the NDRC said, citing that small cars account for 48.2 percent of China's total automobile output in 2005, an increase of 18 percentage points from 2001.

Source: Xinhua