(Yicai Global) Oct. 16 --China's ship construction deliveries fell by more than one fifth in the first nine months of the year compared to the year-ago period, though new orders have increased by one-third, the country's industry ministry has said.

The country delivered new vessels equal to 27.5 million deadweight tons between January and September, down 21.7 percent on last year, China'sMinistry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statistic release yesterday. Ocean-going ships made up 7.5 million compensated gross tons of the total.

New ship orders increased 33 percent to 26.82 million dwt for the period, of which sea-going vessels made up 7.47 million cgt, the ministry said.

The accepted order volume was 86.5 million DWTs as of September with an annual increase of 6.5 percent. Seacraft orders in the period were 27.7 million cgt, and exports accounted for 88.8 percent.

China's shipbuilders constructed 42 percent of the world's total vessels in the period, a 1.2 percentage point improvement on the year-ago period. The country also accounted for 42 percent of the world's total orders, up 3.9 percentage points annually.

Editor: William Clegg