BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's industrial production continued to demonstrate structural improvement in August, with innovation-driven development gaining momentum while integration between technological advancement and industrial upgrading accelerating.

The country's value-added industrial output expanded 5.2 percent year on year in August, down from a 5.7-percent rise in July, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

In the first eight months of this year, the industrial output increased 6.2 percent compared to the same period last year.

The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars).

A breakdown of the data showed that the manufacturing sector's value-added output increased 5.7 percent year on year last month, while that of mining grew 5.1 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, water production and supply sector rose 2.4 percent.

Commenting on the August data, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference that the cultivation of new quality productive forces has strengthened, and new economic growth drivers continued to emerge.

The high-tech manufacturing sector continued to outperform, supporting the trend of industrial transformation. In the first eight months, value-added output in high-tech manufacturing climbed 9.5 percent from one year earlier, according to the NBS data.

Fu noted that the country's shift toward intelligent and green production also advanced steadily.

In the first eight months, the output of industrial robots and civilian drones increased 29.9 percent and 53.7 percent year on year, respectively, reflecting accelerated adoption of automation and smart technologies. Meanwhile, new energy vehicle production surged 31.4 percent during the same period.

According to Fu, China's policies to boost domestic demand are also increasingly feeding through to the production side, driving rapid production growth in related sectors.

Monday's data also showed that China's retail sales of consumer goods, a significant indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 4.6 percent year on year in the first eight months, while fixed-asset investment rose 0.5 percent.

The country's economy maintained steady progress during the January-August period despite downward pressures, Fu said, adding that the economic performance is expected to sustain a steady momentum in the third quarter of the year as the country's macro policies continue to deliver effects. Enditem