CHINA'S industrial production slowed for the second straight month in August but still managed to increase by 17.5 percent.

The production increase was less than July's 18 percent gain, the National Statistics Bureau said on its Website this morning.

Automobile output rose 21.7 percent last month, slowing from a 32.7 percent increase in July, the bureau said.

Cement production increased 13.3 percent after an 11.6 percent gain. Output of steel products increased 23.7 percent, close to the previous month's 23.9 percent growth.

From January to August, industrial production rose 18.4 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said. That compares with a 16.6 percent gain for all of 2006.

The slower pace of output growth in August was partly the result of government efforts to prevent the economy from overheating. In August, the nation's inflation rate surged to an almost 11-year high and the trade surplus widened to the second-highest on record.

China's consumer prices rose 6.5 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase since December 1996, on food costs. The country's trade surplus also widened a year-on-year increase of 33 percent in August to US$24.97 billion.

The bureau is scheduled to release urban fixed-asset investment data tomorrow, which will be the nation's final major economic indicator this month.

Shanghai Daily, September 13, 2007