June 10 (Bloomberg) -- China's industrial production grew at the slowest pace in nine months in May as the SARS epidemic prompted the closure of some factories, and curbed consumer spending in cities such as Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei.

Factory production rose 13.7 percent from a year earlier to 319 billion yuan ($38.5 billion), National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Wang Jicheng said in Beijing. That's slower than April's 14.9 percent gain and more than the 12.5 percent median increase forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of six economists.

``Chinese companies have been winding down production partly because of weakening foreign demand,'' Rob Subbaraman, an economist at Lehman Brothers Japan Inc., wrote in a research report released on Friday. ``But the primary reason is weaker demand at home, due to the outbreak of SARS.''

Severe acute respiratory syndrome has infected more than 8,400 people worldwide, killing at least 784, and China accounts for about three-fifths of the cases. Companies such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. temporarily shut some factories to prevent the disease spreading among workers, while consumers have been staying home to avoid infection, hurting sales at Motorola Inc.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's biggest consumer-electronics maker, closed two Beijing factories for two weeks last month after five employees in its television display and fluorescent lamp plants were found to have SARS. The company in April halted an inspection line at another Beijing plant that makes electric components, after learning that the husband of a worker came into contact with someone infected with the disease.

Motorola Inc., the world's second-biggest mobile-telephone maker, reduced sales and profit forecasts for the year, blaming excess inventory and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company said phone sales will decline 30 percent in China and 20 percent in Asia in the second quarter.

Last Updated: June 9, 2003 21:31 EDT