China industrial profits in biggest fall since 2011

Beijing

CHINESE industrial companies reported that profits fell the most in at least four years as the pillars of China's infrastructure-led growth model suffered from a devalued yuan, a tumbling stock market and weak demand.

Industrial profits tumbled 8.8 per cent in August from a year earlier, with the biggest drops concentrated in producers of coal, oil and metals, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday in Beijing. It was the biggest decline since the government began releasing monthly data in October 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.