China's gross ocean product up 6.8 pct in first three quarters

BEIJING -- China's marine economy saw steady progress with the gross ocean product rising 6.8 percent year on year to near 6 trillion yuan ($864.6 billion) in the first three quarters, data showed Monday.

Major marine enterprises monitored by the government posted strong profit growth, with their combined profits surging 89 percent year on year in the January-September period, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

In breakdown, emerging marine industries maintained sustained and rapid growth, with business income of the marine medicine and bio-product industry as well as marine renewable energy sector growing 9.2 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.

The country's installed capacity for offshore wind turbines surged 51 percent from a year earlier to 3.05 million kilowatts in the first three quarters.

With high domestic demand for natural gas, the production of offshore natural gas grew 9 percent year on year, to 11.3 billion cubic meters. However, offshore crude oil output fell 4.5 percent to 35.4 million tonnes.