The growth of China's industrial value-added output was 17.8 percent in April, slightly lower than 18.1-percent increase in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Tuesday.

The figure was compared with a 7.3-percent growth in April last year, when the national economy was hit hard by the global financial crisis.

Industrial production was stable, expanding relatively quickly in the first four months, the NBS said.

Industrial value-added output rose 19.1 percent from January to April, 0.5 percentage points lower compared with the first quarter this year, the NBS said.

The figure for heavy industries was up 19.4 percent year on year in April, and that for light industries climbed 14.1 percent, it said.

China's industrial value-added output increased only 3.8 percent in the first two months of 2009, a much slower growth pace from a year earlier when it was 15.4 percent. The rate of growth started to accelerate from April last year, highlighting the country's strengthening economic recovery supported by government stimulus measures.

Last month, electricity generation in China grew 21.4 percent to 331.64 billion kilowatt-hours. Crude steel output rose 27 percent from a year earlier to hit 55.4 million tonnes while auto production increased 34.6 percent to 1.6 million units.

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