China's industrial production slows in August

China's value-added industrial output expanded 6.9 percent year on year in August, down from 9-percent growth in July, the latest data showed on Saturday.

On a monthly basis, the industrial output in August expanded by a fractional 0.2 percent from July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement. In the first eight months, total value-added industrial output grew 8.5 percent from the same period last year.

August marked the second monthly retreat of the growth rate after industrial output grew 9.2 percent in June, its fastest pace since January.

"An obvious drop was seen in the industrial output growth for August," said Jiang Yuan, a senior analyst with the NBS, citing reasons ranging from weak external demand to tempered growth of auto and cell phone production.

China's August export growth came in at 9.4 percent, significantly lower than the 14.5-percent rise in July, pointing to dampened external demand and the complex situation of the world economy, according to Jiang.

Data on consumer goods such as cars and cell phones, which often posted double-digit growth in the past years, were also disappointing in August. Auto production grew only 3.1 percent, down sharply from 10.5 percent in July, while cell phone production retreated 2.3 percent.

Another drag was cooling investment. Saturday's data showed urban fixed asset investment in January-August grew at a slower pace of 16.5 percent and property investment growth moderated to 13.2 percent. The investment slowdown weighed on related sectors including cement, glass and home appliance production, according to Jiang.