BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial production weakened sharply in April, with the industrial value-added output growing at its lowest pace in nearly three years.
The country's industrial value-added output rose 9.3 percent year on year in April after adjusted by inflation, 2.6 percentage points lower than March and marking the lowest growth since May of 2009, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
Industrial value-added output expanded 11 percent in the first four months from a year earlier. The growth was also lower than the 14.7-percent increase registered in the first quarter this year.
Industrial output and other indicators suggested the country's national economy still faced downward pressures, analysts said.
Growth in the world's second-largest economy eased to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, the lowest level in 11 quarters.
Fixed asset investment rose 20.2 percent in the first four months, down 0.7 percentage points from the first-quarter growth. Retail sales climbed 14.1 percent in April, also lower than the 15.2-percent increase registered in March.
In April, industrial value-added output for the heavy industry sector rose 8.9 percent from a year earlier, while that of the light industry sector gained 10.3 percent. Forty of the country's 41 industrial sectors posted gains in industrial value-added output last month.
China's industrial value-added output measures the final output value of industrial production, or the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate input, such as raw materials and labor costs.
