China's machinery industry reported a lower growth rate in 2005 compared with that in 2003 and 2004 because of the nation's microcontrol of the economy.

The industrial added value in the sector in 2005 hit 1.082 trillion RMB yuan, up 20.3 percent year-on-year, said Cai Weici, vice president of the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF), at a yearly press conference.

In contrast, the growth rate of 2003 and 2004 were 38.9 percent and 33.52 percent, respectively.

The profit that the machinery industry made in the past year reached 214.08 billion yuan, up 11.26 percent year-on-year.

Owing to the price hike of upstream products and the price decrease of machinery products, Cai acknowledged, the profit of the machinery industry had kept a negative increase until October.

Among the 94 main products in the category of the CMIF, the output of 77 reported increase. The growth rate of 15 products were above 30 percent.

In 2005, China turned out 162,000 tractors of large and middle sizes, up 42.8 percent year-on-year. Numerical control machine tools were 59,600, up 14.24 percent, and power generation equipment, 92 million kilowatts, up 28.89 percent.

Motor vehicles and sedans were 5.70 million and 2.77 million, up 12.06 percent and 19.71 percent.

He said the production of vehicles this year will reach approximate 6.5 million, up 10 percent to 15 percent. Power generation equipment will grow by 15 to 20 percent.

In 2006, the growth of the machine-building industry is expected to go on increasing steadily, Cai added.

He predicted that the sector's added value is estimated to grow by about 15 percent and profits by five to 10 percent.

Source: Xinhua