BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's building material sector posted significant profit growth last year thanks to cement production warming up, official data showed.
The sector's profits totaled 431.7 billion yuan (about 64 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, up 43 percent from a year ago, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
Cement producers raked in profits of 154.6 billion yuan, more than double than that of a year ago. The cement output increased 3 percent year on year to 2.18 billion tonnes in 2018, reversing a slight decline in the previous year.
The stellar performance was attributable to a rising cement price. In December, the average price of cement was 10.6 percent higher than a year ago.
Another main building material, plate glass, reported profit growth of nearly 30 percent, despite a downward price and a slower production increase.
