Industrial sector profits dropped 3.1 percent to 3.06 trillion yuan between January and August compared to the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, versus a 2.7 percent decline in January to July.

Falling corporate profits mirror China's economic malaise.

A raft of economic data earlier this month showed factory output languishing at 39-month lows in August as growth in exports and imports turned in one of their weakest showings since the 2008/09 global financial crisis.

Deteriorating economic data has led analysts to predict China will post its worst growth report in 13 years in 2012 with a gross domestic product expansion of just 7.7 percent.