China's cement output hit 82 million tons in January, the same as last year's, while sales decreased in some major cement-producing provinces, an industry association said.

The average factory gate price of cement in Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei and Jiangsu and other major cement-producing provinces witnessed small drops last month, according to the China Building Materials Federation.

Average factory-gate prices in those regions dropped below 250 yuan per ton, or 50 yuan lower than in December 2008, the federation said.

China's cement output totaled 1.38 billions tons in 2008, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said last month.

(China Daily February 25, 2009)