China says sees positive Q2 industrial output signs

BEIJING, Apr 25: China’s industrial output growth is showing positive signs of acceleration in the second quarter of the year versus the first quarter, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Wednesday.

‘Production activity is picking up in the second quarter from the first quarter and there are some positive signs showing that trend,’ Zhu Hongren, the ministry’s chief engineer, told a news conference.

‘The fundamentals of our industrial sector development remain good. We still have sustainable growth potential and the downward pressure is under control,’ he added.

China’s industrial output growth has been on a broadly downward trend since late 2009.

March industrial output grew 11.9 percent on the same period a year ago, its weakest rate since July 2009 during the depths of the 2008-09 global financial crisis, though recent signs have emerged that the bottom of China’s current downward economic cycle may have been reached in Q1(agencies)