China's industrial output rose 17.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, official data showed Friday, indicating the economy was continuing to grow at a fast pace.
"In the first quarter, national industrial output continued to maintain a relatively fast pace of growth," the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
Continuing strong growth in fixed-asset investments, stable growth in domestic consumption and fast growth of exports fuelled production, the NBS said, reporting output of 1.13 trillion yuan (136 billion dollars).
In March, output accelerated by 19.4 percent, compared with 16.6 percent in the first two months of the year.
Excluding the distortions caused by the timing of China's annual New Year holidays for the months of January and February, March's monthly year-on-year increase is the highest for at least five years.
Last year, output grew by 17.2 percent in the first quarter.
China maintained its status as the world's fastest growing major economy in 2003, expanding by 9.1 percent. Government planners, worried about over-investment in some industries, were hoping to cool the economy and had announced a relatively modest seven percent growth target for 2004.
But the first quarter's industrial production suggests the efforts to slow investment may not have been entirely successful.
Electricity demanded by industrial enterprises continued to soar, despite an economy already suffering from power shortages, prompting the NBS to warn that energy was still under considerable strain.
Power generation in the first quarter rose 15.7 percent, fuelled by demand in other industries. Coal output was up 14.4 percent, steel output 26.4 percent, flat glass output 20 percent and cement output 23.8 percent. Output of consumer goods soared in the first quarter, with car production up 36.9 percent, mobile phone output rising 42.1 percent, digital camera production up 92.8 percent and laptop output rising 64.7 percent.
Electrical home appliances output was up by between 30.9 percent and 38.2 percent.
Heavy industry output, which produces the equipment and machinery for newly-invested factories and plants, rose a sharp 20.1 percent in the first quarter, while light industry, which makes consumer goods, grew more moderately by 14.9 percent.