The growth of Chinese machinery industrial production would slow to 15 percent in 2009, according to an estimate by the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) on Friday.

The value of production has gained 23.43 percent to 9.07 trillion yuan (about 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2008 despite the impact of natural disasters and global financial crisis, marking the sixth consecutive year of more than 20 percent growth in the industry, said CMIF vice-chairman Cai Weici while reporting the industrial performance in 2008.

For the first 11 months last year, the industry made a profit of 460.5 billion yuan, up 16.42 percent, said Cai. But the fourth quarter, especially December, saw a steep drop in production and exports in the industry.

China's machinery industry is expected to make 10-percent gains in profit and exports in 2009, said Cai.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2009)