( Xinhua) 15:38, April 16, 2014 BEIJING, April 16 -- China's industrial value added expanded by 8.8 percent in Marchfrom an average growth of 8.6 percent in the Jan-Feb period, the National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.
The value added of state-owned enterprises saw a 4.6-percent growth year on year inMarch, while that of joint stock companies expanded by 10.1 percent, according to the NBSdata.
Last month, the value added of the manufacturing sector grew by 9.9 percent, while that ofthe mining industry grew by 2.9 percent.
The NBS said that industrial value added in March grew by 8.6, 7.9 and 10.4 percent ineast, central and west China, respectively.
However, industrial value added in the first quarter slowed by 0.8 percentage points fromthe same period last year to a 8.7-percent growth, according to the official figures.
"March industrial production growth rose as expected, but we believe the rebound will betemporary," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist with Japan's Nomura Securities.
Lu Zhengwei, chief economist at the Industrial Bank, attributed the sluggishness inindustrial enterprises in the first quarter mainly to over-valued Renminbi.
"Reform in the exchange rate mechanism remains one of the priorities," said Lu.
China uses industrial value added to measure business activities of designated largeenterprises each with an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (3.26 million U.S.dollars).
The total profits of such enterprises reached 779.3 billion yuan in the Jan-Feb period, up9.4 percent year on year. The growth rate was lower than that for the whole of 2013,which stood at 12.2 percent. But it was notably higher than that for December.
Official data showed that the purchasing managers' index for the country's manufacturingsector rose to 50.3 percent in March, up from 50.2 percent in February. An improvingreading indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector.
Along with slowed industrial production growth, the service sector continued to grow in thefirst three months and make a larger contribution to GDP growth.
NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said the trend indicated that the Chinese economy isshifting from an industry-led growth to a service-led one.
"We should adopt a new perspective to see the changes in the Chinese economy," saidSheng. （Editor：KongDefang、Liang Jun） Related reading
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