Growth of industrial profits in China slowed further in the first eight months, in an indication that the government’s measures to cut emissions are taking effect.
From January to August, profits of Chinese industrial enterprises rose 55 percent year on year, down from the increase of 81.6 percent in the first five months, the previous period over which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) conducted the survey, the NBS announced Monday.
The NBS figures showed that from January to August, profits of industrial enterprises — those with annual sales exceeding 5 million yuan (746,194 U.S. dollars) each — totaled 2.6 trillion yuan.
During the period, revenues of industrial firms totalled 43.1 trillion yuan, up 33.4 percent from a year earlier, but the growth rate declined by 4.8 percentage points from the January-May period.
The growth in profits saw an even sharper fall from the first two months, the first nationwide survey period of 2010, when industrial profits climbed by 119 percent from January-February last year.
Heavy industries saw the biggest slowdown in profits.
In the ferrous metals smelting and processing sector, the profits growth rate fell to 99.7 percent in the year to August, down from 3,290 percent for the first five months, according to the NBS.
For smelters and processors of non-ferrous metals, the profits rose by 130 percent, much slower than the 330 percent for the January-May period.
