China's industrial capacity utilisation touches 5-year high

China's industrial capacity utilisation hits 77 per cent in 2017, the highest level in nearly five years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The rate is 3.7 percentage points higher than the 2016 level, according to NBS data.

China's industrial output expanded 6.6 per cent in 2017, up from 6 per cent in 2016, with the pace of growth accelerating for the first time since 2011, according to NBS statistics.

Wen Jianwu, head of NBS's department of industrial statistics, said China's industrial economy witnessed a stronger and more stable development, as well as improvement in structure and profitability in 2017, laying a solid foundation for high-quality development, reports State Media of China Xinhua.

He also pointed out that China must firmly push forward the supply-side structural reform and seek economic transformation toward high-quality development, as it still faces complicated external and internal conditions, and long-standing problems such as overcapacity.