BEIJING, May 16 -- China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 5.6 percent year on year in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday.

The growth rate was 1.7 percentage points higher than that of March, the bureau said.

In April, the industrial production was generally stable, and the equipment manufacturing sector grew rapidly, said the bureau.

A breakdown of the figure by industries showed the manufacturing sector's output increased by 6.5 percent year on year during the period, while the production and supply of electricity, heat, gas and water rose 4.8 percent.

By ownership, state-controlled enterprises saw an increase of 6.6 percent in output, while the private sector's output grew by 1.6 percent, according to the bureau.

In terms of product types, the production of new energy vehicles and solar cells surged 85.4 percent and 69.1 percent year on year, respectively.

In the first four months of the year, China's value-added industrial output increased 3.6 percent, 0.6 percentage points faster than that of the first quarter.

Industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.88 million U.S. dollars).