BEIJING, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Profits of China's major industrial firms fell 3.4 percent year on year in the January-April period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.
Combined profits of industrial firms with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan (about 2.9 million U.S. dollars) stood at 1.81 trillion yuan in the first four months of 2019.
Major industrial firms' operating revenue reached 32.84 trillion yuan in the period, up 5.1 percent year on year, the NBS data showed.
Zhu Hong, an NBS senior statistician, attributed the decline to lower value-added tax rate which was implemented since April 1, resulting in the earlier unleash of the demands for industrial products in March.
In the four months, state-owned industrial firms' profits dropped 9.7 percent year on year, while private firms' profits went up 4.1 percent.
Companies in mining and manufacturing posted profit declines of 0.7 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.
Among the 41 sub-sectors, 27 saw higher profits and 14 reported lower earnings.