BEIJING, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- In December 2008, China's light industry enjoyed an output growth of 8.1 percent year-on-year, which sharply outpaced the 4.7 percent growth of heavy industry.

    The latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that the output of state-owned enterprises suffered a decline. In December, state-owned and state-controlled enterprises witnessed an output drop of 0.6 percent, while that of private enterprises went up 16.3 percent, overseas-funded enterprises was up 0.3 percent.

    According to the statistics, in December the country produced 219.9 million tonnes of coal, down 1.3 percent year-on-year; the output of crude oil was 15.7 million tonnes, up 0.4 percent; crude steel fell 10.5 percent to 37.79 million tonnes; and motor vehicles dropped 18.9 percent to 685,700 sets.

    In December, China's industrial output grew 5.7 percent, or 0.3percentage points faster than the previous month.