China's industrial output rose 17.5 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

The latest figure indicated a slight decrease in the growth of China's monthly industrial output, compared with 18 percent in July and 19.4 percent in June.

Over the first eight months of the year, industrial output increased by 18.4 percent from a year earlier, while it expanded by 18.5 percent in the first seven months.

The bureau said more than 98 percent of the industrial products were sold in August, 0.28 percentage points lower than the same period of last year.

The manufacturing of transportation equipment enjoyed the highest growth rate at 28.4 percent in August, up from 26.6 percent the previous month, according to the NBS.

Official data showed that about 660,000 vehicles were produced last month, up 21.7 percent, while the production of passenger cars rose 17.1 percent to 370,000.

The value of goods delivered for export by major Chinese enterprises continued to rise, up 20.1 percent year-on-year to reach 617.8 billion yuan (US$82.2 billion) in August, but lower than the 22.2-percent growth in July.

The output of coal in August was about the same as in July at 194 million tons, and its year-on-year growth rate slowed down from 12.7 percent in July to 8.2 percent last month.

Power generation capacity increased by 15 percent to 299 billion kilowatt hours. Oil production picked up to grow by 2.3 percent to 15.91 million tons, instead of a fall of 1.7 percent in July.

The production of steel products continued to maintain a high growth rate at 23.7 percent, with an output of 48.27 million tons in August.

Chinese retail sales in August rose 17.1 percent year-on-year to reach 711.7 billion yuan (US$94.6 billion), up from 16.4 percent the previous month, according to statistics released by the bureau a day earlier.

China's trade surplus hit US$24.98 billion in August, the second highest monthly figure this year after a record US$26.91 billion in June.

Another major economic barometer - the consumer price index (CPI)- went up by 6.5 percent in August, the highest monthly rise in 11 years, on food price hikes compared with the same period of last year, said the bureau.

China's money supply rose 18.09 percent last month compared with August last year, but the growth rate was lower than the 18.48 percent recorded in July, the country's central bank said on Wednesday.

It earlier warned in its second-quarter monetary report that China's economy remained on the brink of overheating following another 12 months of soaring industrial output and money supply.

The World Bank on Wednesday raised its forecast for China's 2007 economic growth to 11.3 percent from an earlier 10.4 percent, and said the country's macroeconomic prospects were still good.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in a speech at the Summer Davos forum that the government should "give top priority to macro-regulation to prevent an already fast growing economy from becoming overheated".

The government has taken various measures to ease liquidity and prevent the economy from overheating, such as the planned issuance of 1.55-trillion-yuan special treasury bonds.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2007)