China's machinery industry maintained steady and positive performance in the first seven months of the year, reporting growth momentum in both production and sales, said an official with the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) on Saturday.

The latest data from the CMIF show that in the January to July period, the added value of the five major sectors in the machinery industry maintained a year-on-year growth trend.

Specifically, the general equipment manufacturing industry increased 8.3 percent, the special equipment manufacturing industry rose 3.8 percent, the automotive manufacturing industry grew 10.9 percent, the electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry climbed 11.9 percent, and the instrument and meter manufacturing industry expanded 7.1 percent.

In terms of fixed asset investment, the general equipment manufacturing industry, the special equipment manufacturing industry and the automotive manufacturing industry all achieved steady growth.

Among the representative products in the machinery industry, the cumulative output of metal-cutting machine tools reached 480,000 units, representing a year-on-year growth of 13.9 percent.

The cumulative output of industrial robots reached 447,000 units, up 32.9 percent year on year, promoting the accelerated cultivation of new quality productive forces.

Meanwhile, the production of clean energy equipment has developed rapidly. In the first seven months, the cumulative output of solar cells in China reached 473.96 million kilowatts, up 19.6 percent year on year. Wind turbine units were exported to 108 countries and regions, and the export value had been steadily increasing.

"Since the beginning of this year, China's machinery industry has seen stable growth in production and sales, with economic operations improved steadily, particularly in the acceleration of green transformation. Companies in the machinery sector have been actively laying out each link of the 'source, network, load, storage' industrial chain, vigorously promoting the research and application of green and low-carbon products, and providing solid support for building a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system," said Xu Niansha, president of the CMIF.