Slower growth in China’s value-added industrial output in 2015 was due to a continued slowdown in traditional heavy industrial sectors, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. An important barometer of overall economic growth, value-added industrial output grew by 6.1% year-on-year, 2.2 percentage points slower than in 2014. The growth is mainly being pushed down by overcapacity in traditional heavy industries. Industrial output in the cement and plate glass industries dropped by 4.9% and 8.6% year-on-year, respectively, according to the NBS. Industrial output has long been a key driver of the nation’s growth, but the growth rate was 0.8 percentage points lower than the GDP growth rate last year. The central government has shown a strong commitment to slashing excess capacity, and zombie factories – those unable to pay their debt and survive without outside support – will face greater challenges to survive this year. While industrial production is contributing less to the world’s No 2 economy, high technology industries are expected to take the lead in the future. The value-added output of the high-tech industry went up by a notable 10.2% year-on-year, 4.1 percentage points faster than the total value-added output, the China Daily reports.