China's industrial profits surge 57.3% in first 7 months

China's major industrial companies saw a steady increase in profits in the first seven months of this year amid a stable recovery in market demand and improving business performance, official data showed on Friday.

Industrial firms with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (US$3.08 million) raked in combined profits of 4.92 trillion yuan during the period, up 57.3 percent year on year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Compared with the 2019 level, profits of major industrial firms rose by 44.6 percent in January-July period. The expansion put the average January-July growth for 2020 and 2021 at 20.2 percent, NBS data showed.

In July alone, major industrial firms made 703.67 billion yuan in total profits, up 16.4 percent year on year.