BEIJING - Sales by China's major excavator producers continued to grow in September but at a milder pace, according to the China Construction Machinery Association.

The country's 25 leading excavator makers sold 13,408 units in September, up 27.7 percent year on year, compared with a 33-percent increase in August.

In breakdown, 11,702 excavators were sold in the domestic market, up 22.9 percent year on year. Exports of the equipment rose 74.8 percent to 1,689 units.

A total of 156,242 excavators were sold in the Jan-Sept period, up 53.3 percent on the same period last year. More than 140,000 of those were sold domestically.

Sales of excavators are usually backed by growth in mining, construction, and infrastructure investment.

Fixed-asset investment growth in China slowed to 5.3 percent for January-August from 5.5 percent in the first seven months of the year, weighed down by weakening infrastructure investment, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.