China industrial profits rose 92.3% y-o-y in March

[BEIJING] Profits at China's industrial firms rose 92.3 per cent year-on-year in March to 711.18 billion yuan (S$145.3 billion), official data showed on Tuesday.

That compared with a 179 per cent on-year surge seen in the first two months, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The industrial profit data covers large firms with annual revenue of over 20 million yuan from their main operations.

For the January-March period, industrial firms' profits rose 137 per cent from the same period a year earlier to 1.825 trillion yuan.

China's gross domestic product quickened sharply in the first quarter to record growth of 18.3 per cent, driven by stronger demand at home and abroad.

However, the data undershot the 19 per cent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, and analysts expect the brisk expansion, heavily skewed by the virus-related plunge in activity a year earlier, to moderate later this year.

REUTERS