BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Profits of China's major industrial firms fell 2.4 percent year on year in the first half of 2019, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Saturday.
The decline quickened slightly from a fall of 2.3 percent in the January-May period.
Combined profits of industrial firms with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about 2.9 million U.S. dollars) amounted to 2.98 trillion yuan in the first six months, while their revenue rose 4.7 percent to 50.9 trillion yuan during the period.
Specifically, profits of state-owned industrial firms dropped 8.7 percent from one year earlier to 936.88 billion yuan, while those of private ones reached 743.07 billion yuan, a 6-percent year-on-year increase.
In June alone, profits of industrial firms dropped 3.1 percent from one year earlier to 601.92 billion yuan, according to the NBS.
Profits at 26 of the 41 sectors surveyed rose compared with one year earlier, while 15 sectors saw their profits fall, according to the NBS.
The sectors of oil and natural gas exploration, power generation and equipment manufacturing posted strong profit growth in H1, while auto production, chemicals, and computer, communication and electronics manufacturing industries saw their profits decline.
