BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- China's industrial production grewby 16.3 percent in the first nine months this year to 5,045 billion yuan (622.8 billion US dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

    In September alone, China's industrial production came to 627.5billion yuan, up 16.5 percent, said NBS spokesman Zheng Jingping at a press conference.

    Of this total, the output rose 11.3 percent in state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, 11.9 percent in collective-owned enterprises, 17.9 percent in shareholding enterprises and 16.2 percent in foreign enterprises and those funded by Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, according to NBS figures.

    During the nine months, the output in heavy industry and light industry rose 16.9 percent and 14.9 percent respectively. Output of coal, electricity and steel products rose 10.2 percent, 13.4 percent and 25.8 percent year on year.

    The output of motor vehicles increased 10.0 percent, of which, that of sedans was up 17.7 percent.

    The sales and production were well linked in the first nine months with the sales ratio in enterprises above designated size standing at 97.86 percent, the same level as that of a year earlier. Enditem