BEIJING, March 15 -- China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 2.4 percent year on year in the first two months of 2023, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

The growth rose by 1.1 percentage points from the level in December 2022, and the two-year average growth stood at 4.9 percent, NBS data showed.

"In the first two months, Chinese economy steadily recovered with rising production demand, stable employment and consumer prices and improved market expectations," NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference.

A breakdown of the figure by industries showed the mining industry's output increased by 4.7 percent year on year during the period, while that of the manufacturing sector rose by 2.1 percent.

By ownership, state-controlled enterprises saw an increase of 2.7 percent in output from January to February, while the private sector's output grew by 2 percent, according to the NBS.

In terms of products, the production of solar cells and new-energy automobiles rose by 40.8 percent and 16.3 percent year on year, respectively.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.91 million U.S. dollars).