China Jan-Oct industrial profits up 25.3pc

BEIJING, Nov 27 (Reuters): Combined profits of industrial enterprises across China rose 25.3 per cent in the first ten months of 2011 from the same period last year to 4.12 trillion yuan ($646 million), the National Bureau of Statistics said Sunday. The growth slowed from the 27 pe0r cent in the first nine months and the 28.2 per cent in the first eight months, in line with slowing economic growth. The statistics agency said profitability in oil and gas exploration and production, chemicals manufacturing, ferrous metal mining and non-ferrous metal processing sector were particularly strong. However, the petroleum refinery, coking and nuclear fuel processing sector reported a fall of 89.8 per cent in profits in the first ten months, the agency said in a statement on its website. www.stats.gov.cn Profits of electricity generation and heating firms also fell 3.5 per cent in the same period, it said.