BEIJING — China's industrial capacity utilization rate came in at 74.5 percent in 2020, down 2.1 percentage points from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The utilization rate hit 78 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4), rising 0.5 percentage points from the same period a year earlier and 1.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, the NBS data showed.

Among the three major sectors, the mining sector's utilization rate in Q4 stood at 75 percent, dipping 0.1 percentage points from the same period in 2019.

The utilization rate of manufacturing reached 78.4 percent while that of the production and supply of utilities stood at 74.3 percent.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, China's industrial production maintained steady expansion in 2020. The country's value-added industrial output went up 2.8 percent year-on-year last year, picking up from the 2.3-percent increase registered in the first 11 months.