China's industrial profits rose a robust 30.1 percent in the first ten months, back to their best levels.

 

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Wednesday show that the profits of all state companies and companies with annual sales of over five million yuan reached 1469.7 billion yuan (US$186 billion) in the first ten months.

 

After two years of high growth between 30 to 40 percent, China's industrial profits dropped back to a more modest 15-20 percent increase last year as a result of soaring prices of raw materials such as coal and oil and surplus production capacity in some sectors.

 

China's industrial profits have accelerated this year.

 

Niu Li, an analyst with the State Information Center, attributed this year's strong profit growth to booming market demand for industrial products both at home and overseas as well as high profits from sectors such as coal, oil mining and non-ferrous metal refining.

 

The non-ferrous metals refining sector saw the highest year-on-year profit growth for any industrial sector at 105.5 percent.

 

Profits of the petroleum and natural gas mining sector rose 30.4 percent while the petroleum refining and coking sectors saw a net loss of 46.2 billion yuan due to the high cost of raw materials.

 

Chinese private companies reported a profit growth rate of 50.1 percent in the first nine months, more than double their state counterparts.

 

According to the statistics, profits at state-owned companies grew 22 percent in the period and 27.7 percent at overseas-funded companies.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2006)