China's industrial output may grow faster in the current quarter compared with the previous quarter, but the pickup is limited by weak export demand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday.
An increase shown by the electricity generation data and the Purchasing Managers' Index boosted hopes for improvement, said Zhu Hongren, a spokesman and chief engineer of the ministry.
But external risks remained amid the lingering debt crisis in Europe, the largest market for Chinese goods.
The pickup in industrial production will help China achieve its 7.5 percent target for economic growth this year, Zhu said, adding that factory output accounted for more than 40 percent of the gross domestic product.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics last week showed industrial output rose 9.2 percent in September, up from a 39-month low of 8.9 percent in August. Experts said the official data signaled China's economic slowdown for seven quarters may be ending.
"This result suggests the Chinese economy is beginning to stabilize," said Matthew Circosta, a Moody's Analytics economist. "The pickup in Chinese exports in September suggests the globaleconomy is healing, albeit at a slow rate, and will flow through to stronger manufacturing output in the fourth quarter."
China's industrial output grew 10 percent in the first nine months of this year. The government has set a full-year target of 11 percent.
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