Profits at China's non-financial state-owned firms rose 37.6 percent in the first eight months of the year from the same period in 2009, the finance ministry said on Sunday. That marked a slowdown from 50.1 percent profit growth in the January-July period.
In month-on-month terms, profits rose 4 percent in August compared with a fall of 11.5 percent in July, the ministry said on its website. The property, automobile, steel and machinery sectors earned less in August than in July, while the coal, power, oil and non-ferrous industries reported higher profits.
The statistics cover all industrial enterprises run by the central government and local governments.