BEIJING, July 14 -- The value-added output of China's nonferrous metal industry rose 17.9% year on year in May this year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The growth was 2.2 percentage points lower than in April.

In the first five months of this year, the combined output of the ten nonferrous metals was 12.74 million metric tons, up 36.6% year on year.

The output of electrolytic aluminium surged 51.4% year on year to 6.89 million metric tons in the period from January to May and that of refined copper was 1.86 million metric tons, up 16.5% year on year.

The output of lead climbed 9.4% year on year to 1.44 million metric tons during the period, while that of zinc rose 35.1% year on year to 2.06 million metric tons.

The nonferrous metal industry reaped a combined net profit of RMB 59.53 billion in the first five months, 243.28% more than in the corresponding period of last year.