China's industrial output logged an average annual growth of 6.3 percent in the 2012-2021 period as the country's manufacturing sector gained strength, an official said Tuesday.

The industrial value-added output had risen from 20.9 trillion yuan (about 3.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to 37.3 trillion yuan in 2021, Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, told a press conference.

The growth was well above the global average of about 2 percent for the period, Xin noted.

Despite the COVID-19 epidemic, the average growth rate for 2020 and 2021 reached 6.1 percent, playing an important role in stabilizing the global industrial chain and promoting the recovery of the world economy, the vice minister said.