Both output and sales values of China's machinery industry exceeded 10 trillion yuan (1.46 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) said Wednesday.

Output value reached 10.75 trillion yuan in 2009, up 16.07 percent from the year earlier. Sales value was 10.48 trillion yuan, up 16.11 percent,said Wang Ruixiang, the CMIF director.

From January to November last year, the sector's profits reached 581.6 billion yuan, up 22.8 percent year on year.

The auto sector was the "engine" that drove the overall growth of the industry last year, said Wang, adding nearly 30 percent of output value of the machinery industry was generated by automakers.

Wang predicted the machinery sector would reach a 15 percent growth in output and sales values this year, with profits likely to grow 10 percent.