Industrial profits up 28.3 percent

China's industrial companies reported a 28.3 percent rise in profits in the first seven months from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics has said. That compares with a 28.7 percent in the first half of the year.

Profits in the seven months totaled 2.8 trillion yuan ($430.77 billion), Xinhua reported.

Among the 39 industries polled, 37 manufacturing sectors reported profit growth while communications equipment, computer and other electronic products saw profits shrink.

The nonferrous mining industry, which focuses on metals other than iron, posted the biggest profit gain of 58.7 percent, followed by a 56.6 percent rise for chemical product producers.

The data was collected from a pool of industrial businesses with at least 20 million yuan of annual sales revenue.

By Sun Yuanqing