MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chinese industrial output hits 7-year low in October

China's industrial output hit a seven year low as the global economic slowdown continues to batter the world's fourth largest economy eroding demand for Chinese exports.

Growth in factory output slowed to 8.2% in October from September's reading of 11.4% and well below forecasts, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. In comparison, the same figure for October 2007 showed industrial output increasing 17.9% over a year earlier. The slowdown was evident in every sector except oil. Steel production dropped 17% compared with October last year, while power generation fell for the first time in a decade. Car makers produced 730.000 vehicles in October, a drop of 0.7% from a year earlier. News of the slowdown coincided with comments from Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, that the impact of the global financial crisis on China was "much worse" than expected. China's leaders had initially said the crisis would not cause too much harm to the Chinese economy. But with the drying up of credit and confidence levels plummeting among consumers and manufacturers, recent days have seen the signals from Beijing change markedly. A week ago Beijing unveiled a stimulus package worth some 600 billion USD aimed at lifting economic growth, although it was unclear how much was actually new spending. On Thursday reports said Chinese ministries had been allocated an extra 15 billion USD as the government stepped up efforts to boost the economy and consumer spending. The China Daily newspaper said that in addition the State Grid Corp of China which operates most of China's electricity-distribution network would invest 400 million USD to expand power grids in central and western China.