The industrial structure of the light industry has continued to optimize and upgrade in the country during the first half of this year, cctv.com reported on Wednesday.

Light industrial production has grown rapidly, and the consumer market has recovered steadily in the first six months. With industrial structure improving and upgrading, the industrial economy has been supported into steady growth.

The added-value of light industry above designated size increased 0.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, maintaining growth for three consecutive months - and the figure increased 2.3 percent year-on-year in June.

Among the 92 light industrial products that the National Bureau of Statistics collected, 48 products realizing increase of 52.2 percent year-on-year in June.

During Jan to June, the retail sales of 11 categories goods of light industry reached 3.5 trillion yuan ($488 billion), an increase of 6.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for 15.4 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

The export market structure of the light industry saw balance during Jan-May, with the export to countries and regions related to the Belt and Road Initiative jumping 14.8 percent year-on-year, and the export to the ASEAN countries growing 12.6 percent year-on-year.

A new driving force has become an important support for the light industry to steady growth. In the first six months, the added-value of solar cell, scooters and household appliance manufacturing surged 23.3 percent, 10.7 percent and 8.4 percent year-on-year, respectively.