Industrial output jumped 18.5 percent last year, or 1.9 percentage points more than in 2006, Xie Fuzhan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said on Thursday.

Output at companies with annual revenue of at least 5 million yuan ($691,600) expanded 17.4 percent in December, compared with 17.3 percent in November.

Industrial output and gross domestic product (GDP) could both expand more slowly this year as the sub-prime crisis and a potential recession in the United States could reduce demand for Chinese exports, according to Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Industrial output growth decelerated from September onward, as the government's tightening measures took effect. The year-on-year growth figures for September and October were 18.9 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively.

Output growth rates were 13.8 percent for state-owned enterprises and organizations in which the state holds controlling stakes and 17.5 percent for foreign-, Hong Kong-, Macao- and Taiwan-invested businesses, Xie told a press conference in Beijing.

The rates for heavy and light industry were 19.6 percent and 16.3 percent, respectively.

Other statistics released on Thursday:

-- Companies sold 98.1 percent of their production last year.

-- Profit grew by 36.7 percent year-on-year during the first 11 months of last year, six percentage points more than a year earlier, to 2.295 trillion yuan, Xie added. This growth came as the economy expanded 11.4 percent for the whole year, the fifth year of double-digit growth.

-- Vehicle producers' profit soared 68.7 percent, the highest rate among all sectors. The rates for the chemicals, coal and steel industries were 51.5 percent, 49.1 percent, and 47.2 percent, respectively.