China factory output slows on govt's green drive
14 Nov 2017 4:19 PM GMT
Beijing: China's industrial output slowed in October, official data showed on Tuesday, as authorities fight smog by clamping down on pollution produced by heavy industries.
Output at factories and workshops expanded 6.2 per cent on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, slowing from 6.6 per cent in September and below a forecast of 6.3 per cent in a Bloomberg News survey.
The government has moved to wind down production at some steel factories and smelters in a drive to clean up the country's smog-ridden cities.
Factories also closed during last month's Communist Party congress, during which President Xi Jinping called for more efforts to protect the environment. The government is also pushing to make domestic demand a growth driver of the world's second largest economy and make China less reliant on manufacturing and exports.
"Generally speaking, the national economy maintained stable performance with improved quality and sound momentum," NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua told reporters. "However, we must be aware that China is at a pivotal stage for transforming the growth model," she said.
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