Chinese light industry to expand 10 percent in 2014

(MENAFN) According to the Chinese National Light Industry Council, the country's large firms' value-added output of light industry is forecasted to grow 10 percent in 2014 over a year ago, Xinhua reported. In 2013, the value-added output of these firms, which have an annual turnover surplus of USD3.24 million, increased 10.16 percent compared to a year earlier, the council added. The council attributed the slow expansion of light industry to lower demand, higher labor costs, environment protection and rising trade barriers. "The light manufacturing sector's overall competitiveness can improve through accelerating industrial upgrades and phasing out superfluous capacity," the council's chairman said.