China’s building materials industry continued to expand in the first half, despite government attempts to cool the speculative housing market, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced Monday.

The country’s cement production reached a monthly record of 172Mt in June, bringing the total production to 848Mt in the first half.

First-half production was up 17.5 per cent YoY, said a statement on the MIIT website.

The government adopted a series of measures to rein in soaring home prices and curb property market speculation in April. The measures included tighter scrutiny of applications for financing, limiting of loans for third-home purchases and higher down payments for second homes.

The property market has started cooling as average housing prices in 70 major cities fell 0.1 percent in June from May.