(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-07 13:55

China'sbuilding materialssector saw continuous robust growth in the first five months of this year, causing worry about overheating in fixed-asset investment.

From January to May, the gross industrial output of major building materials manufacturers nationwide reached 601.2 billion yuan (79.1 billion U.S. dollars), a growth of 31 percent over the same period last year, according to a recent report by the National Reform and Development Commission.

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Their sales increased by 31.4 percent to 582.8 billion yuan, 0.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier. The sales against production stood at 96.9 percent, 0.24 percentage points higher.

The enterprises garnered 25.2 billion yuan in combined profits between January and May, up 61.8 percent. The growth was 6.1 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

The report said there existed signs of overheating in capital investment by the sector.

In the first five months, the sector invested 81 billion yuan in fixed-assets investment, up 52.6 percent, much higher than the average growth for the manufacturing industry at large.