China's industrial profits drop 2.1pc in Jan-Sept

Profits of China's major industrial firms dropped 2.1 per cent year on year in the first nine months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Sunday.

The decline narrowed from the 3.3-per cent year-on-year drop in the first quarter (Q1) and 1.9 per cent in Q2 to 1.8 per cent in Q3, said NBS senior statistician Zhu Hong.

Specifically, profits of state-owned industrial firms dropped 9.6 per cent from one year earlier to 1.39 trillion yuan (about 196.47 billion U.S. dollars), while those in the private sector gained 5.4 per cent year on year to 1.26 trillion yuan in the first nine months.

During the period, profits of the mining industry climbed 3.1 per cent to 427.94 billion yuan, while the manufacturing industry dropped 3.9 per cent to 3.79 trillion yuan.

The structural improvement of industrial firms resulted in more sectors experiencing profit growth, said Zhu.

Profits in 30 of the 41 industrial sectors surveyed rose compared with one year earlier, according to the NBS.