China's industrial production was up 17.4 percent in April compared with the same period last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The monthly rise was 0.2 percent lower than the previous month but 0.8 percent higher than during the same period last year.

The country's large and medium-sized industrial enterprises exported goods worth 571.6 billion yuan (73.3 billion U.S. dollars) last month, up 19.5 percent year-on-year.

April's output of raw coal went up by 10.5 percent to 188.5 million tons, crude oil up 2 percent to 15.4 million tons, electricity up 15.4 percent to 247.5 billion kilowatt-hours and crude steel up 16.5 percent to 40.3 million tons.

The ferrous metal sector recorded a 25.8-percent increase in output, outperforming any other sector. The non-metal mineral and transport equipment manufacturing sectors followed, with their output rising 23.2 percent and 22.8 percent respectively.