THE growth of China's manufacturing activities dipped just 0.1 percentage points last month, easing worries over a sharp economic slowdown.

Industrial output gained 13.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 13.4 percent increase in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

"The production of most major industrial goods had larger monthly gains than last May, which served as strong evidence that the worries over a hard landing were overdone," said Yao Wei, an economist at Societe Generale.

Heavy industry gained 13.5 percent in May, compared with a 14 percent increase in April, and light industry grew 12.9 percent, faster than April's 11.9 percent growth, according to the bureau.

Power output gained 12.1 percent to 377.5 billion kilowatt-hours, 0.4 percentage points faster than that in April.

"This probably didn't mean a strong recovery in power generation as the statistical base was lower last May, but it did seem to indicate that the problem of power shortages was not worsening," Yao said.

Auto production lost 1.9 percent to 1.43 million units in May, compared with a 1.6 percent drop in April, as a result of the ending of tax breaks on small engine car purchases.

Sedan output gained 3.3 percent to 760,000 units.

Crude steel production gained 7.8 percent to 60.25 million tons, slower than the 7.1 percent increase in April, and cement output gained 19.2 percent, compared with April's 22.4 percent growth.