China's industrial companies with annual sales exceeding five
million yuan (US$646,000) recorded a 43.8-percent surge in profits
in the first two months of this year, according to a report
released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Tuesday.
The growth rate was 22 percentage points higher than the same
period last year, according to the report.
Total profits in the first two months soared to 293.2 billion
yuan (US$37.9 billion), maintaining last year's fast growth of 31
percent.
Profits of the iron and steel sector more than tripled, the
fastest growth among 39 major industries, followed by a
66.7-percent growth of the electric power industry, 57.3 percent in
coal mining, 68.4 percent in communications and transportation
equipment manufacturing and 31 percent in the nonferrous metals
melting and pressing processing sector.
Petroleum processing and coking reported profits totaling 14.8
billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) in the first two months after a net
loss of 4.6 billion yuan last year.
But profits of petroleum and natural gas exploration companies
dropped 18.6 percent year-on-year, and those of electronic
communication equipment manufacturing fell by 14.2 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)