BEIJING - China's industrial value-added output grew 11.4 percent year on year in the first two months of this year, easing from 12.8 percent in December last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

The NBS ascribed the ease in growth to shrinking market demand.

In year-on-year terms, the industrial value-added output of State-owned and state-held companies rose 7.3 percent in the January-February period, while that of collectively-owned and joint-stock enterprises expanded by 9.9 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively.

Industrial value-added output for the heavy industry sector rose 10.9 percent from a year earlier during the period, while that of the light industry sector climbed 12.7 percent.

All 41 of the country's industrial sectors posted gains in the first two months, with textiles up 14.1 percent; chemical materials and products up 13.4 percent; and general equipment manufacturing up 8.6 percent.

China's eastern regions recorded a year-on-year increase of 7.8 percent in industrial value-added output in the first two months, central regions17.6 percent and western regions 16.6 percent.

Moreover, 317 out of 471 products saw value-added outputs increase over the January - February period. The output of electricity rose 7.1 percent year on year to 718.7 billion kilowatt-hours, while that of steel increased 4.6 percent to 139.29 million tons.

Meanwhile, the output of automobiles dropped 1.8 percent year on year in the first two months to 3.12 million units.

Industrial value-added output measures the final output value of industrial production, or the value of gross industrial output minus intermediate input, such as raw materials and labor costs.

China's industrial value-added output growth decelerated to 13.9 percent in 2011 from 15.7 percent in 2010, NBS data showed.