China's building materials sector continues to slow

BEIJING - China's building materials sector remained sluggish as the property market showed no signs of warming, latest statistics from the country's top economic planner indicated.

Cement output rose 3.6 percent year on year to 1.14 billion tons in the first half of 2014, slowing 6.1 percentage points from the expansion seen during the same period last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on its website.

Output of flat glass rose 4.7 percent, down 6.1 percentage points from a year earlier.

Prices also remained on a downward track. Compared with a month earlier, the factory gate price of cement went down 1.8 percent, and that of flat glass was unchanged.

The data pointed to the continuing weakness in the property market, a major consumer of cement and flat glass. Data showed the average home price in 70 Chinese cities slipped 0.47 percent from the previous month, marking a second consecutive monthly drop following a 0.15 percent fall in May.

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