In April, China's heavy industries expanded 9.6 percent year on year while its light industries posted an output growth of 8.5 percent from a year earlier.

Analyzed by ownership, the industrial output of state-owned enterprises expanded 4.3 percent, while that of collectively owned companies grew 5.7 percent, compared with 10.9 percent for stock-holding companies and 7.4 percent for overseas-funded firms.

The NBS statement also showed that 40 of the 41 sectors tracked by the bureau saw output growth. The auto manufacturing sector grew 12.9 percent and general machinery manufacturing expanded 10.5 percent, while the textile sector grew by 10.1 percent, according to the NBS.

The growth of electricity output picked up from the 2.1-percent growth in March, rising 6.2 percent year on year to 399.4 billion kilowatt hours in April.

Meanwhile, steel output added 8.1 percent year on year to 87.61 million tonnes in April, cement output increased 8.7 percent to 214.88 million tonnes, while 38.32 million tonnes of crude oil were processed in the period, up 2.5 percent.