Prices of major building materials in China rose in April after months of decline, thanks to demand driven by the country's stimulus package, according to a statement on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website.

The industrial output of building materials enterprises rose 14.4 percent to 163.3 billion yuan (US$23.93 billion) in the first four months of this year, and output in April jumped 15.4 percent to 50.3 billion yuan.

Industry factory prices in April rose 0.28 percent month-to-month or 2.61 percent year-on-year, the first jump since October.

China produced 429 million tons of cement in the first four months, up 10.2 percent from the same period last year, with production in April alone rising 10.8 percent to 147 million tons, the biggest growth since last August.

Production of clinker rose 8.8 percent to 302 million tons in the January-April period.

(chinadaily.com.cn May 26, 2009)