China industrial profits rise

BEIJING: China’s industrial firms made total profits of 2.08 trillion yuan (US$338.4bil) in the first five months of 2013, up 12.3% from the same period a year ago, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

In May, profits were 470.6 billion yuan, up 15.5% from the same month last year, NBS said in a statement on its website, www.stats.gov.cn. January to April profits had risen 11.4% on year, while for the month of April profits had risen 9.3% on year. — Reuters