China's industrial output rose 17.5 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

The latest figure indicated a slowing-down trend in the growth of industrial output, compared with 18 percent in July and a surge of 19.4 percent in June.

In the first eight months of the year, industrial output increased by 18.4 percent from a year earlier, while it expanded by 18.5 percent in the first seven months.

The manufacturing of transportation equipment enjoyed the highest growth rate at 28.4 percent in August, up from 26.6 percent in the previous month, according to the NBS.

The official data showed that about 660,000 vehicles were produced last month, up 21.7 percent, while the production of passenger cars rose 17.1 percent to 370,000.

The value of goods delivered for export by major Chinese enterprises continued to rise, up 20.1 percent year-on-year to reach 617.8 billion yuan (US$82.2 billion) in August, a bit lower than the 22.2-percent growth in July.

The bureau said more than 98 percent of the industrial products were sold in August, 0.28 percentage points lower than the same period of last year.