1st LD: China's industrial output grows 6.8 pct for Jan.-Feb.

Industrial output in China grew 6.8 percent year on year in the first two months of 2015, down 1.1 percentage points compared to growth for December, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Wednesday.

Month on month, industrial output in February grew 0.45 percent from the previous month, NBS data showed.

According to the NBS, economic data including industrial output, fixed asset investment, retail sales and property investment for January, together with data for February, were arranged for release in March.

In a breakdown, the output of manufacturing rose 7.5 percent during the first two months while the mining industry saw output grow 4.2 percent;growth for electricity, heating, gas and water was 4 percent.

Industrial output of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises saw 2.2 percent growth year on year in the first two months, while that of joint stock companies expanded by 7.7 percent. Industrial output of enterprises funded by overseas investors expanded by 4.9 percent.

During the January-February period, industrial activity was the most robust in the central regions with a surge of 8.4 percent, followed by 8 percent in the western areas and 7.4 percent in the more developed eastern regions; The northeastern regions saw output drop 0.6 percent.

China uses industrial output, officially called industrial value added, to measure the activity of designated large enterprises, each with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (3.25 million U.S. dollars). Endit