CRI听力: China's VAI output up 10.8% in Jul, positive sign for China's industry

China's value-added industrial output of enterprises has stopped its downward trend and climbed by 10.8 percent year on year in July.

A senior Chinese official says the data adds to the optimism that China's industry is gradually recovering, but cautions that some adjustments will have to be made to maintain the growth.

Our reporter Zhang Cheng has more.(www.hXen.com)

Reporter:

Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, spoke about the country's latest industrial output data at a press conference on Thursday.

"The value-added industrial output in July was 10.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier, which gives us great inspiration. But we still need to well implement the stimulus package."

Li Yizhong says in the later half of this year the government will make more efforts to help enterprises incorporate technological innovations and use them in projects funded by the stimulus package.

Meanwhile, Li Yizhong says the ministry will focus more on adjusting the industrial structure, changing the path of economic growth, and fostering new economic growth points.

He says one of the government's specific measures is eliminating outdated capacity in the steel industry.

"The problem of outdated capacity is obvious in the steel industry. This year's estimated total output capacity of steel is 660 million tons, 190 million tons more than the demand. So China will not approve any additional expansion-related projects in the iron and steel industry over the next three years."

When asked about the Rio Tinto case, the minister says the incident reflects an unhealthy environment in the global iron trade sector.

He says China, as the world's largest iron ore buyer, should have more say in the global iron ore trade.

"Spot prices of iron ore are increasing sharply on the global market, and we hope to see an appropriate relationship between spot prices and long-term contract prices. I hope the world's major iron ore suppliers will consider both their own long-term interests and their long-term cooperation with China's steel industry."

Chinese customs data show the country imported more than 350 million tons of iron ore in the first seven months this year, an increase of nearly 32 percent from a year earlier.

Li Yizhong also says the ministry will issue another set of guidelines on energy conservation and emissions reduction in key sectors, including the chemical and steel sectors, in the second half of this year.

Zhangcheng, CRI News.