BEIJING — China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 9.8 percent year-on-year in April as factory activities continued to pick up, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on May 17.

The figure was up 14.1 percent from the level in 2019, bringing the average growth for the past two years to 6.8 percent, NBS data showed.

In the first four months, industrial output went up 20.3 percent year-on-year, resulting in an average two-year growth of 7 percent.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $3.11 million).